An international law firm found no evidence that Germany bought votes to win its bid for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Despite that, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer noted in its report that bribery took place, as there was a payment of €6.7 million ($7.4 million) that went unaccounted for.
Christian Duve, a partner at the law firm, presented the findings and noted the payment in question was intended "for a FIFA gala" and was apparently used for something else. Duve said the report could pinpoint what the 6.7 million euros actually bought.
The German soccer federation (DFB) commissioned the investigation after unconfirmed reports surfaced in October 2015 that it bought votes to secure the bid. The report found the 6.7 million euros came from bank accounts based in Zurich and Qatar, as well as another one under Franz Beckenbauer, an iconic German soccer player who served as the organizer for the country's World Cup bid.
After receiving the payment, FIFA transferred the money to Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the former CEO of Adidas. Louis-Dreyfus, who died in July 2009, then moved the money around to accounts in Qatar, Switzerland and back to Beckenbauer, the report stated.
The account in Qatar belonged to a scaffolding company called Kemco, owned by Mohamed Bin Hammam, who was banned from FIFA for life in 2011 for what it called "conflicts of interest." It was later reported that Bin Hammam appeared to be buying votes from other national soccer federations as he prepared to run for FIFA's presidency.
What exactly the 6.7 million euros paid for is not clear, and Freshfields seems to be emphasizing that the inconclusiveness of their report illustrates the corruption allegedly gripping FIFA. The timing of the report's release is also important, as Sepp Blatter's controversial tenure as FIFA's president just came to an end last week.
The Freshfields report found Blatter to be aware of the suspect payment, but it is unclear what the nature of his involvement in the alleged bribery was. Blatter was among several people who declined to cooperate with investigators. Freshfields also discovered a number of electronic files they could not access either because they were locked or had been deleted.
Duve said Freshfields is not ruling out the possibility that the money was somehow connected to Blatter's re-election. FIFA did not comment but to say it will weigh Freshfields' report in its own probe.
"They landed somewhere in Qatar, this is under the influence of Bin Hammam. But anything beyond that is speculation. We had the task of presenting the facts," Duve said presenting the report. "You could connect the payment with the FIFA re-election of Blatter or for the 2006 vote but that would be pure speculation."
