The clarification of the alleged scandal surrounding the summer fairy tale of 2006 is becoming ever more distant: With a decision of October 27, 2022, the district court in Frankfurt/Main drew a line under the proceedings against the former DFB presidents Wolfgang Niersbach (71) and Theo Zwanziger (77). and the long-standing DFB General Secretary Horst R. Schmidt (80).
This was announced by Schmidt's lawyers in a press release.
The investigations dragged on for several years.
The revelations about secret money flows in connection with the Summer Fairy Tale World Cup 2006 kept the judicial authorities in Germany and Switzerland in suspense in recent years.
Specifically, it is about 6.7 million euros, which were allegedly transferred in 2005 by the German World Cup organizing committee via the world association FIFA to the former adidas boss Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
Exactly this sum had obviously flowed three years earlier in the form of advance payments from Beckenbauer and Louis-Dreyfus to the former FIFA scandal official Mohamed bin Hammam in Qatar.
"Unremovable Procedural Obstacle"
In October 2018, the Frankfurt Regional Court had already rejected the opening of main proceedings in connection with the allegation of tax evasion against Niersbach, Zwanziger and Schmidt.
There was no judgment against the trio in Switzerland either, the statute of limitations had expired in April 2020.
According to the Schmidt lawyers, an “unremovable procedural obstacle” was given as the reason for the current termination of proceedings.
"The court correctly determined that the dismissal decision of the Swiss Federal Criminal Court of May 20, 2021 resulted in the use of a criminal complaint in accordance with Art. 54 SDÜ, since both criminal proceedings related to the same facts," the lawyers said.
The state treasury will bear the costs of the procedure.
As a result of this decision, “the criminal prosecution of Mr. Horst R. Schmidt has come to a temporary end.
The investigations and the parallel proceedings in Germany and Switzerland have put a lot of strain on our client over the past seven years," the lawyers said.
The legal representatives went on to explain: "Since the cessation decision now available does not have to deal with this question, his defense attaches great importance to the finding that Mr. Schmidt has never made himself punishable under any aspect - neither under German nor under Swiss law. "
The German Football Association (DFB) has repeatedly emphasized that the aim of the association is to fully clarify the background to the payment flow.