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Tax Raid on German Football Association Over 2006 World Cup

However, the three are understood to be DFB President Wolfsgang Niersbach, his predecessor, Theo Zwanziger and the DFB’s former general secretary, Horst R. Schmidt.

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The main allegations being investigated have to do with reports that a secret fund of about $7.4m (£4.9m) was set up to secure votes for Germany to host the 2006 World Cup.

England tried to host the tournament, but lost out to Germany in the worldwide vote.

Meanwhile, human rights organisations announced they had formally submitted evidence to Fifa’s ethics committee and ad-hoc electoral committee alleging the favourite to succeed Sepp Blatter as president was complicit in a crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners in Bahrain.

However, both Niersbach, who was vice president of the organizing committee and its president, Franz Beckenbauer have denied that any votes were bought.

Other alleged crimes of embezzlement and global bribery would not be investigated because of the statute of limitations, the prosecutor said.

Niersbach said Beckenbauer had vouched for the money, which was repaid to Louis-Dreyfus through a Federation Internationale de Football Association account in 2005, but the DFB president could not explain why that course of events had been necessary.

Niersbach had denied the accusations, saying that the money was part of a larger Federation Internationale de Football Association fund for the DFB.

“They today have been enforced by 50 officers of Frankfurt’s tax investigation as well as the prosecution for economic offences”. “The World Cup was not bought”. “We secured the World Cup through fair means”, he said.

It’s the latest twist in the scandal surrounding the award of the 2018 and 2022 Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively, and FIFA’s management.

The 71-year-old former West Germany midfielder was an ambassador for the 2006 World Cup and has taken legal action to prevent Zwanziger from making further comments about him.

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Following raids on DFB headquarters over tax evasion claims, the governing body has vowed to fully cooperate with prosecutors.

GETTYPolice raided the German FA headquarters as part of the FIFA corruption scandal