Bin Hammam confirms 6.7m euro payment from Germany

Then-Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohamed bin Hammam arrives for an ethics hearing over alleged bribery during his campaign for the FIFA presidency in 2011. Picture: Steffen Schmidt/Keystone via AP

Then-Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohamed bin Hammam arrives for an ethics hearing over alleged bribery during his campaign for the FIFA presidency in 2011. Picture: Steffen Schmidt/Keystone via AP

Published Jan 13, 2018

Share

Berlin - Disgraced former senior FIFA official Mohamed Bin

Hammam has confirmed receiving 6.7 million euros (7.3 million

dollars) in a payment which has been linked to the awarding of the

2006 World Cup to Germany, a German broadcaster reports.

However, the former vice-president of football's governing body has

denied involvement in any bribery in connection with the payment,

according to a report to be broadcast Sunday in ZDF's

"Sportreportage" programme.

In the exclusive ZDF interview, Bin Hammam said: "The 6.7 million

euros have gone into my account, yes. But I would like to know why

Germany should have bribed me for something they have already

received.

"The sum was received after the (2000) World Cup award on my

account."

Asked if he knew why he received a payment from Germany, he replied:

"I do not know. No, of course I know, but excuse me - it's only you

who cares, no one else."

The Qatar businessmen also said corruption allegations linked to the

controversial award of Qatar as 2022 World Cup host did not concern

him.

"They do not affect me all. These are just allegations and remain

allegations," he said.

Bin Hammam, who was banned from football for life in 2011 in

connection with vote-buying allegations around the FIFA presidential

elections, is seen as a key figure in the 2006 World Cup affair.

In 2002, the sum was transferred from an account controlled by World

Cup organizing committee chief Franz Beckenbauer and his now deceased

manager Robert Schwan via Switzerland to a company controlled by Bin

Hammam.

Shortly afterwards Beckenbauer received a similar sum from former

Adidas boss Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

A 6.7-million-euro payment was then sent three years later by the

German Football Federation DFB to FIFA, declared as a contribution

for a cultural event which never took place. Investigators believe

this was a hidden repayment via FIFA to Louis-Dreyfus.

DFB president Reinhard Grindel told Sport Bild last month he was

aiming for a personal meeting with Bin Hammam in Qatar to discuss the

payment. However, he had received no response to a request for a

meeting made to Bin Hammam's lawyer's office.

Beckenbauer has rejected any bribes were paid in connection with the

2006 World Cup and argued that Germany's World Cup organizers wanted

to secure the payment of an organizational cost subsidy from FIFA - a

claim which has been denied by former FIFA president Joseph Blatter.

Swiss prosecutors opened criminal proceedings on November 6, 2015

against Beckenbauer and former senior German football federation

officials Wolfgang Niersbach, Theo Zwanziger and Horst R Schmidt.

German prosecuting authorities in November 2015 separately opened an

investigation on "suspicion of tax evasion in a particularly severe

case" into senior DFB officials in connection with the payment.

dpa

Related Topics: