In the process surrounding the awarding of the 2006 World Cup, auditors from the tax office testified that the DFB had not provided any evidence of the dubious million-dollar payment to FIFA, despite being asked twice.
The two auditors at the time, Edith Hofmann and Ludwig Haus, said this on Thursday before the Frankfurt am Main regional court in relation to the 2005 payment of 6.7 million euros to the world football association FIFA.
In 2010, the DFB was asked twice for receipts for the transfer during the tax audit, but both times they only received an overview list of the bookings made. According to Haus, the association pointed out at the time that the payment was based on an oral agreement with FIFA.
Buying votes – 2006 World Cup under suspicion
The trial, which began in March, concerns a payment of 6.7 million euros that the DFB transferred via FIFA to the French entrepreneur and former Adidas boss Robert Louis-Dreyfus in April 2005. Franz Beckenbauer had received this sum three years earlier as a loan from Louis-Dreyfus; these 6.7 million ultimately ended up with former FIFA Vice President Mohamed bin Hammam. According to an investigation by the news magazine Der Spiegel, the money was used to buy votes. Proceedings before the Swiss Federal Court were discontinued in 2020 due to the statute of limitations.
Transfer of 6.7 million euros on demand? “I can not imagine that”
In her testimony, Hofmann described it as “unusual that something was only written orally.” From her experience, the DFB has written documents for all processes.
“I can’t imagine that bookings of such magnitude were made on demand,” said Hofmann on the fifth day of the trial surrounding the 2006 World Cup, in which former DFB officials Theo Zwanziger, Wolfgang Niersbach and Horst R. Schmidt have to answer for the accusation of tax evasion in a particularly serious case.
They are said to have illegally declared the 6.7 million euro payment to FIFA in April 2005 as a business expense in the tax return for 2006, thereby reducing the tax for the World Cup year by around 13.7 million euros. All three defendants strictly deny the accusation.
DFB and FIFA “were credible back then”
Both Hofmann and Haus stated at the same time that they had never questioned the DFB’s declared purpose of the transfer, “subsidy for the FIFA gala”, even though this gala never took place. “We didn’t ask any further questions because both associations were credible at the time,” said Hofmann. Haus said: “We were told that it was a one-off subsidy for which there was no written agreement.” Accordingly, no further documents were submitted.
The money was transferred to Robert Louis-Dreyfus immediately after it was received by FIFA. The French entrepreneur granted WM OK boss Franz Beckenbauer a personal loan of 10 million Swiss francs in 2002. The public prosecutor’s office assumes that the 6.7 million euros was the repayment of this loan.