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Swiss prosecutor opens criminal proceedings against Beckenbauer

Xinhua, September 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland Thursday said it has opened criminal proceedings in connection with the German Football Association(DFB).

The suspects were four members of the executive board of the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, including 70-year-old Franz Beckenbauer.

The Swiss prosecutor said the proceedings relate in particular to allegations of fraud, criminal mismanagement, money laundering and misappropriation.

The four persons named were members of the executive board of the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The presumption of innocence applies to all four.

According to the Swiss prosecutor, the investigations focus on the joint financing of a gala event, initially at the cost of 7 million euros( about 8 million U.S. dollars), later reduced to 6.7 million euros. It is suspected that the suspects knew that this sum was not being used to fund the gala event, but instead to repay a debt that was not owed by the DFB.

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

In March, the FIFA Ethics Committee opened formal proceedings against Beckenbauer regarding the awarding of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Enditem