KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- Swiss prosecutors have registered fraud charges against three former German football bosses and a one-time FIFA official but whether the case ever comes to trial remains doubtful.

The case focuses on the shuffling between Switzerland, Germany, Switzerland again and Qatar of a mystery payment of €6.7m authorised by ex-DFB presidents Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach, senior official Horst Schmidt and the then FIFA general secretary Urs Linsi.

Proceedings have tarnished the bright image of the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006.

Franz Beckenbauer . . . health problems acknowledged

All four men have any wrongdoing in a case which risked falling next April because of a statute of limitations law had the Office of the Swiss Attorney-General – already under enough pressure over its handling of football corruption investigations – not authorised the bringing of charges.

Schmidt, Zwanziger and Linsi are accused of fraud and Niersbach of being complicit in fraud in the charges. The OAG had previously dropped an investigation into allegations of money-laundering over the money.

Zwanziger anger

Zwanziger has described the decision as “outlandish” and “an insult”.

A major difficulty for prosecutors in the continuing investigation is that proceedings against Franz Beckenbauer, the German football legend who is similarly implicated in the affaire, have had to be separated because he is in poor health and has yet to be formally questioned.

Beckenbauer, a World Cup-winning player and coach for Germany, headed the 2006 World Cup bidding and then organising committees. Legal representatives for the other four men could challenge any pursuance of the case over any eventual inability to involve 73-year-old Beckenbauer either to face charges in his own right or to be available for questioning in court.

In a statement the OAG 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 [then Adidas owner] 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.”

Bin Hammam was then president of the Asian confederation and a powerful and influential member of both the FIFA executive committee and the FIFA finance committee.

The OAG added: “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.”

Media questions

Concerns about a mystery payment had been raised by the German media as far back as 2003. Investigations eventually led to the downfall of Niersbach who had been 2006 bid manager and later progressed by roles as ceo and president of the DFB and a member of the FIFA and UEFA executive committees. He had succeeded Zwanziger as DFB president and a European delegate on the FIFA exco.

The DFB is watching the case closely though German investigators have said they found no evidence that the officials were liable for tax evasion charges.

A DFB statement said: “Should the DFB suffer damages because of the wrong behaviour of the accused then it is legally obliged to consider and proceed with any claim for compensation.”

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