German FA raided by police over 2006 World Cup tax evasion claims

Police have raided the headquarters of the German Football Association (DFB) over allegations of tax evasion linked to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup.

The homes of DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach and former president Theo Zwanziger were also searched as part of an operation involving 50 officers.

It follows a report in the German news weekly Der Spiegel last month that said the DFB made a secret payment of 6.7m euro (£4.6m) to FIFA in 2005. An internal audit has failed to find any trace of the 6.7m euros in the DFB's tax documents.

In a statement, German prosecutors said: "Prosecutors in Frankfurt have opened investigations on suspicion of serious tax evasion linked to the awarding of the football championship in 2006 and the transfer of 6.7m euros of the organising committee for the German Football Association (DFB) to the FIFA football association."

The raids follow similar police action at FIFA's headquarters earlier this year.

The DFB released a statement saying it would co-operate with the investigation and that the organisation was not itself under suspicion.

The statement said: "The German football association (DFB) fully supports the  investigation conducted by the Frankfurt prosecutor's office on suspicion of serious tax evasion in connection with the awarding of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the transfer of 6.7m euros from the World Cup organising committee to FIFA.

"On Tuesday morning officials from the prosecutor's office and the tax police visited the association's headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, and among other things secured documents.

"The DFB has told investigators it will co-operate fully. The prosecutors have informed the DFB that the investigation is limited to a suspicion of tax offences having taken place. The DFB itself is not accused of involvement."

Frank Beckenbauer, who lives in Austria, was president of the 2006 World Cup bid and last week admitted the DFB had made a "mistake" in paying the 6.7m euros, but denied that the money was used to buy votes.

He said: "In order to obtain financial support from FIFA, a suggestion by FIFA's finance commission was followed which, in hindsight, should have been rejected.

"No votes were bought in order to win the right to stage the 2006 World Cup."

Sky Sports News HQ, meanwhile, has obtained a letter which suggests that one month before the vote Beckenbauer's right-hand man Fedor Radmann negotiated payments directly into the private accounts of three former members of the FIFA Executive Committee - Josef Mifsud of the Maltese FA, Worawi Makudi of Thailand and Jack Warner of Trinidad & Tobago.

Bayern Munich played friendly matches against Malta and Thailand in the run-up to the World Cup vote, and payments were made in exchange for the television rights.

The payments came from a now defunct German media group which also held the rights to the 2006 World Cup.  

SSNHQ reporter Geraint Hughes said: "This letter, we believe, is genuine and from a reliable source. It instructs the payment into private trust funds of those three people

"Now the current Maltese FA President, Norman Darminin Demajo - who was the treasurer of the Malta FA -  is insistent Franz Beckenbauer was involved in negotiations for the Bayern Munich friendly.

"He confirms $250,000 was paid into the Malta FA bank account. The assertion is that Beckenbauer flew to Malta, had a meeting with Josef Mifsud (the then President) and a secret contract drawn up.

"He believes it's an insult to his intelligence that the sole reason for that friendly and the payment was just to put on a 'friendly' football match. It was to ensure Malta's support at the 2006 vote.

"It's our understanding that Beckenbauer's No.2 at the German World Cup bid team, Fedor Radmann, liaised with the German media group and authorised payments to the three former FIFA Ex-co members."

Both Beckenbauer and Radmann deny any wrongdoing.