The Police in Germany have raided the Frankfurt offices of the German football federation over World Cup graft claims, the scandal surrounding graft claims over Germany’s awarding of the 2006 World Cup widened.
According to Bild, the police are also probing tax evasion.
The homes of top officials were also searched.
The three are understood to be current DFB chief Wolfgang Niersbach, his predecessor Theo Zwanziger and ex-general secretary Horst Schmidt.
The raids came after the DFB was rocked by allegations in news magazine Der Spiegel last month that a 6.7-million-euro ($7.4-million) payment to FIFA was used to buy votes to secure the hosting of the 2006 World Cup.
At the vote in July 2000, Germany saw off South Africa by 12 votes to 11 — Charles Dempsey of New Zealand abstained — to win the right to stage the tournament finals.
Nadja Niesen, senior state prosecutor, said Tuesday’s raids were carried out “over suspicions of tax evasion in a particularly serious case”, and related to the 6.7 million euro payment.
“The defendants are accused of submitting inaccurate tax returns in their previous responsibilities, and thereby shortchanging… taxes due for 2006 by a significant amount,” she said.
The prosecutor noted that the murky payment had been booked by the organising committee as part of its contribution to a FIFA cultural programme, when it was “actually used for other purposes”.
“The payment could therefore not be used as a deductible expense as reported,” she said.
Direct graft claims relating to the case could however not be pursued due to the statute of limitations, added Niesen.
The cash-for-votes allegations have sparked a bout of infighting among senior football officials in Germany.
Niersbach has categorically denied the allegations, saying “there was no slush fund, there was no vote buying”.
He claimed instead that the sum was used to secure a 170 million euro funding from world football’s governing body.
But Zwanziger has accused Niersbach of lying, saying it was “clear that there was a slush fund in the German World Cup bidding process”.
Zwanziger was then DFB chief and also Franz Beckenbauer’s deputy of the 2006 World Cup’s organising committee.
Hammam was in 2014 banned for life by FIFA for a second time from football activities, after being found to have bought votes in an election against Blatter.
Beckenbauer meanwhile, has admitted making a “mistake” in the bidding process to host the 2006 World Cup but has denied that votes were bought.
In a statement that appeared to back Niersbach’s account for the 6.7 million euros, Beckenbauer said: “In order to obtain a FIFA grant, we accepted a proposition coming from FIFA’s finance commission that the implicated parties should, in retrospect, have refused.”
“As president of the organising committee at that time, I take responsibility for this mistake,” he said.
FIFA has denied that any deal was made with the DFB over the questionable fund, and has launched its own probe into the awarding of the 2006 World Cup.
ESPN reported yesterday that Franz Beckenbauer who headed Germany’s 2006 World Cup is facing fresh questions over his role in securing the tournament for Germany after the president of the Maltese FA raised concerns over a friendly match involving Bayern Munich.
German FA (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach has denied the claims and insisted that the €6.7m, which was paid to FIFA in 2002 by the late former Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus, was used to release a grant of €170m for the organisation of the tournament.
Niersbach said Beckenbauer had vouched for the money, which was repaid to Louis-Dreyfus through a FIFA account in 2005, but the DFB president could not explain why that course of events had been necessary.