FIFA's ethics committee has opened "formal proceedings" against a group of individuals involved in the 2006 bid for Germany to host the World Cup. The world soccer organization announced the news on Tuesday that six "high-ranking" officials are being investigated, including Franz Beckenbauer, who led the organizing committee for the bid.
The development comes less than a month after the German Football Association (DFB) previously investigated "suspicious payments" related to the bid. The DFB had reported hired investigators to look into whether payments were made for votes in the bid to get the World Cup. The report put out did not totally "rule out" that there was corruption in the bid, but was not able identify who received money if that did happen.
Apart from Beckenbauer, FIFA announced that the others being investigated include former German Football Association chief Wolfgang Niersbach, Theo Zwanziger, Helmut Sandrock, Horst Schmidt and Stefan Hans. The New York Times reports that Beckenbauer did not meet with the legal team that was hired from the DFB, and instead only spoke through his lawyer.
"In the cases of Mr. Beckenbauer, Dr. Zwanziger, Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Hans, the investigatory chamber will investigate possible undue payments and contracts to gain an advantage in the 2006 FIFA World Cup host selection and the associated funding," the investigators for FIFA's ethics committee said in a statement.
FIFA is looking into the official for "possible undue payments and contracts to gain an advantage" when Germany was going for the 2006 World Cup bid. Beckenbauer reportedly transferred 10 million Swiss francs in 2002 to a company that was owned "by then FIFA official Mohamed Bin Hammam, the former president of the Asian Football Confederation."
Beckenbauer previously said last year that he made a "mistake" during the bidding process for Germany. The voting went 12-11 for Germany over South Africa during the vote in the summer of 2000. The investigation comes as FIFA has dealt with numerous corruption scandals over the past year. Sepp Blatter was re-elected president, but in the recent FIFA election, Gianni Infantino of Switzerland won and will take over for Blatter.
The 45-year-old Infantino will replace Blatter, who was previously suspended by FIFA's ethics committee over financial payments to Michel Platini, the president of UEFA. Blatter announced his resignation soon after winning re-election.
