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Franz Beckenbauer accused of fraud and four others charged by Swiss Attorney in FIFA case

Beckenbauer, plus four officials who have been charged, deny any wrongdoing

Germany and Bayern Munich legend Franz Beckenbauer
Image: Franz Beckenbauer is being accused of paying Qatari Fifa exec Mohamed bin Hammam £8.4m

Franz Beckenbauer has been accused of fraud by the Swiss Attorney General's office.

The World Cup-winning player and coach for Germany is accused of paying Qatari former FIFA exec Mohamed bin Hammam £8.4m before the 2006 World Cup.

Beckenbauer headed the 2006 World Cup organising committee and at the time Bin Hammam was a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and the FIFA Finance Committee.

The Attorney General's Office said. "The investigations have revealed that in summer 2002 Franz Beckenbauer accepted a loan of 10 million Swiss francs in his own name and for his own account from Robert Louis-Dreyfus. This sum was used to fund various payments made via a Swiss law firm to a Qatari company belonging to Mohammed Bin Hammam.

Mohamed bin Hammam is accused of receiving £8.4m from Franz Beckenbauer
Image: The purpose of the payment made to Mohamed bin Hammam (centre) has yet to be determined

"The exact purpose of the total payments of 10 million Swiss francs to Mohammed Bin Hammam could not be determined also because a corresponding request for mutual legal assistance made by the OAG to the Qatari authorities in September 2016 remained unanswered until today."

Proceedings against Beckenbauer are continuing separately because his health problems made it impossible to question him.

Swiss federal prosecutors have filed fraud charges against three former senior German football organisers and a former FIFA official over a suspect payment linked to the same World Cup in 2006.

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The indictment alleges former German Football Association (DFB) presidents Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach, senior DFB official Horst Schmidt and former Swiss FIFA official Urs Linsi misled members of a DFB body about the true purpose of a payment of about €6.7m ($7.5m), a statement said.

The four men have denied any wrongdoing.

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