Sepp Blatter, the long-time FIFA boss, says on Thursday as a witness in the summer fairy tale process. The 79-year-old fights for his life’s work before the judiciary.
Blatter – one from the “Corrupt FIFA-Stadl “ – as Theo Zwanziger recently described the World Cinging Association. The former DFB President is the last remaining defendant at the Frankfurt district court. The 79-year-old fights for his life’s work before the judiciary. Other old and more or less white men have already lost this fight.
“Core of evil”
Blatter – now almost 89 years old – experienced investigations into mismanagement, corruption and bribes in his long official career. In 2016, the Swiss was replaced by Gianni Infantino at the FIFA leadership by the now highly controversial.
Blatter was made up in Frankfurt because the presiding judge Eva-Marie Distler hopes from him about the ominous flows of money around the 2006 World Cup in Germany. “The conversation acts as the beginning of a conspiracy, as the core of evil”said Distler recently about a meeting between Blatter and the now deceased Franz Beckenbauer in December 2001 in the FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
I am never heard of Hammam
A little later, Beckenbauer, then head of the organizational committee for the 2006 World Cup, which was awarded Germany in summer 2000, took up a loan of ten million Swiss francs at the French entrepreneur Robert Louis-Dreyfus and let this sum to Qatar Transferring the company account of the influential FIFA official Mohamed bin Hammam.
The purpose is still unclear – and it will probably remain. Beckenbauer died last year, Hammam was never heard by the judiciary. Should Blatter, of all things, give details of the arrangement price? Probably not.
Judge sees “contagious Memory gaps “
Even Distler no longer expects a breakthrough in trying to draw a complete picture of the processes at that time. “We will not be able to clarify what has happened here. The pre -charged persons are not happy enough for this”said the judge.
Distler commented on the fact that the witness of the former FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi had to be postponed to April 30 because of an eye operation: The disease that the witnesses have commented on as follows “is called contagious gaps in the memory“.
Switzerland forces Netzer to testify
Günter Netzer should also comment on the same day as Linsi. The 1974 world champion had initially let that he was not interested in a video awareness. Since Switzerland, the place of residence of the 80-year-old, provides legal aid, he cannot avoid this.
Businessman Netzer was once a narrow Beckenbauer confidant. “The Netzer had a variety of professional contacts with the DFB”, So Distler. It can be doubted whether he will continue to help the court. The former Gladbach strategist is considered one who prefers to act in the background.
Netzer prompted repayment of the loan
Netzer once urged the Louis-Dreyfus to be repaid on behalf of the Louis Dreyfus, which had died in 2009. In April 2005, the German Football Association transferred 6.7 million euros – which at the time corresponded to around the ten million Swiss francs – to FIFA.
Although the money was declared as a contribution to a planned and later canceled World Cup gala, it was forwarded to Louis-Dreyfus only a day later. The fault was paid.
The grindel of the grindel
In 2015, “Der Spiegel” made the summer fairy tale scandal public. The following year, Reinhard Grindel became DFB boss. Like his successor Fritz Keller, he tried to clarify. However, he failed several times in experiments to meet Hammam several times. “I was always concerned with the topic – and you are my last hope: what was the money done?”said Grindel almost fleeing as a witness to the judge.
The former CDU member of the Bundestag, like many others, has long since disappeared from the center of football power: in the end it was about accepting a luxury watch as a gift of a Ukrainian oligarch.
Expensive Tax return of the DFB
The ex-officials in Frankfurt’s defile are concerned with whether the suspicion of tax evasion is true in a particularly severe case against twenties. The association had posted the 6.7 million euros transferred by the DFB to FIFA in 2006 as an operating edition.
According to the public prosecutor, this was not permitted, which caused the DFB tax tax to be more than 13 million euros. Zwanziger, who was also sitting in the World Cup organization committee, was DFB President from 2004 to 2012. In the first two years in office, he formed a double tip with Gerhard Mayer-Vorfeld. He died before the whole affair flew.
Niersbach paid for Procedure
The tax return of the DFB for 2006 signed Wolfgang Niersbach, who had just become general secretary at the time, according to his own statements “In full trust”. That paper that cost the association 22 million euros in tax payments and other financial damage.
The proceedings against the later association boss Niersbach were discontinued last September against a money requirement of 25,000 euros. Previously, the proceedings against the also accused former Secretary General Horst R. Schmidt (83) had already been separated for health reasons. The three accused have always strictly rejected the accusation.
“Self -disclosure would have been bargain”
Niersbach recently spoke in detail as a witness, but asked for understanding, “That in some places I have no more knowledge”. The 74-year-old suffered badly after his crash. He once stumbled – overwhelmed in the greatest crisis of the DFB – over the summer fairy tale affair. At the time, he was advised against a self -disclosure. A voluntary disclosure, said judge Distler at this point sarcastic, would be afterwards “A bargain. Peanuts.”
“Wonderful gift” with 155 million profit
In any case, Niersbach no longer helped his personal closeness to Beckenbauer and Netzer with his involuntary departure. For the former journalist, the home World Cup was and is a “wonderful gift”, which also dropped 155 million euros in profit.
Niersbach celebrated extensively with the emperor in Kitzbühel that Beckenbauer once had Blatter under four eyes under four eyes in the amount of 170 million euros (“a fabulous-sensational result”). But he does not know how and to what conditions it has completed the deal. “He suffered incredibly from history,” said Niersbach about Beckenbauer and the World Cup scandal. And: “We never talked about money.” That also applies to his friend Netzer.
No hand shake between Niersbach and the twenties
The relationship between Niersbach and the twenties has long since been broken, who did not even shook his hand in his successor to the court. While Niersbach no longer has to appear in the district court, twenties have set itself the task of attending the procedure that has been going on for a year now. He himself expects nothing less than an acquittal and thus a rehabilitation.
At an admission on the 20th day of the trial – further dates are still scheduled until the beginning of June – twenties were allowed to comment in detail. He did this with all his professional experience as a lawyer, who once even did her doctorate on tax and constitutional law and worked as an administrative judge, among other things. His lawyer Hans-Jörg Metz was able to listen to crossed arms most of the time.
Twenties: money not landed at FIFA
“I found out for the first time in 2015 that the money did not end up in the FIFA cash register”, “ said twenties. And: “The initiative for the expulsion of Beckenbauer came from FIFA. We didn’t know that the money ended up at Bin Hammam.” He was in no way dealt with the serious tax return. And in general: twenties sees his role as an old wise man in the whole case.