FIFA bribe allegations: Police raid German FA

Policemen, Tuesday, raided the Frankfurt headquarters of Germany’s football association (DFB) on Tuesday and searched homes of officials of the federation in continuation of investigation into claims of tax evasion linked to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup.

The raids, involving more than 50 officials, are focused on 6.7 million euros ($7.4 million) the DFB transferred to world soccer’s governing body, FIFA in 2005, Reuters reported.

According to prosecutors, senior officials at the association are suspected of failing to register the payment properly in tax returns.

The money, according to a report in magazine Der Spiegel, was used to buy votes for Germany’s successful World Cup bid, a claim DFB denied.

Read also: FIFA: Beckenbauer hit by fresh allegations

DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach, his predecessor Theo Zwanziger and the association’s former General Secretary Horst Schmidt are suspected of tax evasion over the payment, prosecutors said in a statement.

According to Der Spiegel report, deceased Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus loaned the money to the German bid committee to buy votes at the FIFA election, which took place in 2000. Germany won by a single vote from South Africa while the Federation returned the same sum to Louis-Dreyfus via FIFA in 2005, the magazine said.

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