Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 8y

German FA investigates FIFA payment, denies malpractice over World Cup bid

The German football federation (DFB) is investigating whether a multi-million-euro payment it made to FIFA in 2005 was misused but said there were "no indications at all" of delegates' votes being bought for the 2006 World Cup bid.

Spiegel magazine raised suspicions about the tournament in Germany having been bought with bribes by the DFB, saying that the late former head of Adidas, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, had secretly filled a Swiss bank account with 10.3 million Swiss francs, the equivalent at the time of 13m Deutsch Mark, or €6.7m.

The report said Franz Beckenbauer -- the head of the bidding committee and later the organisational committee -- and current DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach were aware of the account, filled with funds transferred by Louis-Dreyfus to be used in securing votes for the 2006 World Cup.

Spiegel said that, when Louis-Dreyfus asked for this money to be returned in 2005, the DFB transferred the sum of €6.7m into an account set up by FIFA in Geneva, saying the funds were for staging an opening gala in Berlin's Olympiastadion.

The report said FIFA then forwarded the money instead onto Louis-Dreyfus' account in Zurich, with Spiegel saying it has seen "trustworthy documents" confirming the whole process.

It is claimed that the funds originally lent by Louis-Dreyfus were used to buy four votes in 2000 from Asian representatives among the 24-man FIFA Executive Committee. They voted for Germany, together with the European members, allowing Germany to beat South Africa with 12 votes to 11. New Zealand abstained from the vote.

In a statement, FIFA said these "are very serious allegations'' that "will be reviewed as part of the independent internal investigation currently being conducted by FIFA under the direction of its legal director with the assistance of outside counsel."

Beckenbauer and Niersbach declined to comment on the Spiegel report, with the DFB instead releasing a statement categorically denying the claims.

It said on Friday it had paid €6.7m to FIFA in April 2005 for the world governing body's "Cultural Programme."

It said it had "become aware" that the funds may not have "been used for their intended purpose" but categorically denied wrongdoing in the bidding process.

The DFB said it was "responding to the investigations into FIFA and due to the repeated assumptions being raised by the media" that it had acted improperly to obtain the right to stage the event, adding that it has "been dealing internally with the awarding of the 2006 World Cup for several months." 

"The DFB has not found any indications of irregularities at all during our investigations," the statement published on dfb.de read. "Furthermore, there have been no indications at all of delegates' votes being bought as part of the bidding process.

"During the time of this analysis, the DFB was made aware that in April 2005 a payment of €6.7 million was made by the 2006 World Cup organisation committee to FIFA, which possibly was not used for its stated purpose (FIFA's cultural programme). This payment was in no way related to the awarding of the tournament five years earlier.

"These suggestions led to the DFB presidency ordering an internal investigation in the summer of this year, which was aimed at explaining this occurrence. This analysis, which also saw law advisors consulted on the question, also examined the question as to whether the DFB has any right to ask for a refund in relation to this.

"The result of that is not yet known as the investigation is still in progress."

Of the three Asian representatives still living, Spiegel only identified Chung Moon-joon of South Korea, who was quoted as telling the magazine that "the questions were unworthy of a response." Louis-Dreyfus died in 2009.

Spokeswoman Pamela Mueller-Niese told The Associated Press that the German Interior Ministry had "no knowledge" of the matter.

Germany won the right to host the 2006 World Cup in 2000, when it was chosen ahead of South Africa, which went on to stage the 2010 edition, by a single vote.

That bidding process is reported to form part of a wider investigation into FIFA practices over the past few decades, amid allegations of bribery, fraud, money laundering and general corruption within world football's governing body.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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