Police and tax investigators raided the headquarters of Germany’s football association (DFB) yesterday and searched the homes of officials to investigate suspected tax evasion linked to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup, prosecutors said.

The raids focused on 6.7 million euros the DFB transferred to FIFA in 2005 – adding another layer to US and Swiss investigations into allegations of corruption in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

The Frankfurt state prosecutor last month launched a monitoring process – a step before a formal investigation – into the payment.

A spokeswoman said yesterday any other suspicion of wrongdoing, such as bribery or corruption, would not be followed up due to the statute of limitations.

Now the investigation will just focus on tax implications, which must be examined within 10 years.

Prosecutors said Wolfgang Niersbach, the president of the DFB, his predecessor Theo Zwanziger and the association’s former general secretary, Horst Schmidt, who all held senior positions on the 2006 organising committee, are suspected of tax evasion over the payment for failing to register the payment properly in tax returns.

“The Frankfurt state prosecutor has launched an investigation on suspicion of tax evasion in an especially serious way in relation with the awarding of the 2006 World Cup and the money transfer of 6.7 million euros from the World Cup organising committee to FIFA,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

The DFB and the prosecutor said the association itself was not being investigated.

The investigation stems from a Der Spiegel magazine report in October that suggested a slush fund had been used to buy votes for the German bid in 2000.

It alleged that deceased Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus loaned the money to the German bid committee to buy votes at the FIFA election. Germany won by a single vote from South Africa.

It said the DFB returned the same sum to Louis-Dreyfus via FIFA in 2005. Adidas, a major sponsor of the DFB, declined to comment on the raids.

Niersbach and Franz Beckenbauer, head of the 2006 organising committee, have vehemently denied those accusations, along with the DFB itself.

Niersbach told reporters last month there were no slush funds and there was no vote purchase.

Prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Nadja Niesen said charges could be filed pending the findings of the raids, which involved more than 50 officers and netted written and electronic documents.

She said tax evasion on a serious level carried a prison sentence of anywhere between six months and 10 years.

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