Swiss open 2006 World Cup criminal case against Beckenbauer

Swiss federal prosecutors opened a formal criminal case against German football legend Franz Beckenbauer and three others on Thursday, part of a widening probe into suspected fraud involving Germany’s 2006 World Cup.

She said more details were likely to be revealed later today.

The statement also noted that it had opened the proceedings last November, weeks after the German newsmagazine “Spiegel” first published a report containing allegations of corruption related to Germany’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

“I, as president of the then-organising committee bear the responsibility of this mistake”.

Beckenbauer has subsequently maintained his innocence, but, in May, an independent inquiry commissioned by the German Football Association (DFB) said it could not rule out that Germany bought votes to secure the 2006 finals.

He is also a former member of Fifa’s executive committee.

Beckenbauer’s lawyers said he is cooperating with “all authorities involved”.

It named them as Beckenbauer, Horst Rudolf Schmidt, Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach.

Swiss prosecutors say evidence was collected Thursday at “eight separate locations” in Germany and Austria.

The Attorney General of Switzerland named 70-year-old Beckenbauer, a World Cup victor with West Germany as a player in 1974 and as manager of the team 16 years later, as one of four suspects.

“In particular, it is suspected that the suspects wilfully misled their fellow members of the executive board of the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup”.

Niersbach was given a one-year ban from the sport in July after he “failed to report findings about possible misconduct” concerning the awarding of the tournament.

The OAG stated Thursday that it believes some of the alleged crimes took place in Switzerland and its investigations are focusing on the joint financing of a 6.7 million Euro ($7.46 million) gala event that was being used as a cover for an illicit payment.

“This was presumably done by the use of false pretences or concealment of the truth, thus inducing the other Committee members to act in a manner that caused DFB a financial loss”, the statement added.

The German bid defeated South Africa by a narrow margin of 12 votes to 11 back in 2000 after New Zealand’s Charlie Dempsey abstained from the second round of voting after stating there had been “intolerable pressure” prior to the ballot.

Fifa’s ethics committee announced in March that it was investigating six people, including Beckenbauer, over the award.

But in a statement, he said: “In order to get a subsidy from Federation Internationale de Football Association [for the organisation of the 2006 World Cup] those involved went ahead with a proposal from the Federation Internationale de Football Association finance commission that in today’s eyes should have been rejected”.