German football legend Franz Beckenbauer, and three others, is being investigated by Swiss prosecutors regarding the 2006 World Cup.
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“The proceedings relate in particular to allegations of fraud (Art. 146 Swiss Criminal Code (SCC)), criminal mismanagement (Art.158 SCC), money laundering (Art. 305bis SCC) and misappropriation (Art. 138 SCC)”.
The Attorney General’s office said they conducted eight simultaneous searches in different locations on Thursday, and are working with counterparts in Germany and Austria.
In March, it emerged that six men being investigated by FIFA’s ethics committee, Franz Beckenbauer, who was the former vice-president of the German Football Association (DFB), president of the 2006 World Cup local organising committee (LOC) and former member of the FIFA executive committee.
“It is suspected that the suspects wilfully misled their fellow members of the executive board of the organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup”, the Swiss prosecution office said.
Beckenbauer, a World Cup-winning player and coach, has previously admitted making mistakes but has denied any wrongdoing over the tournament in Germany.
A report published in Der Spiegel in October 2015 claimed the organising committee had set up a slush fund of CHF10.3 million ($10.6 million) to buy votes and secure the right to stage the World Cup.
Horst Schmidt, who was the former secretary general of the DFB and vice-president of the LOC and Stefan Hans, who was the former chief financial officer of the DFB and chief financial officer of the LOC. As it didn’t have the necessary money itself, it borrowed it from former Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus (since deceased).
“Swiss jurisdiction in the proceedings is based on the fact that certain of the alleged criminal acts were carried out in Switzerland, which is also the suspected place of unlawful enrichment”.
In Beckenbauer’s case, these include “possible undue payments and contracts to gain an advantage in the 2006 FIFA World Cup host selection and the associated funding”.
The investigation, which follows the launch of a Federation Internationale de Football Association probe in March, centres on the financing of a gala event, in which it is claimed the suspects knew the funds were not used for the event, but to pay a debt not owed by the DFB.
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Despite his legal issues, Niersbach is still a member of the executive committees of FIFA and European soccer body UEFA, after being elected a year ago by European member federations. He has said he will appeal against the ban.
