kAlmost six years after the indictment was drawn up in 2018, the so-called “Summer Fairy Tale” trial into possible tax evasion by the organizers of the Frankfurt Regional Court took place before the Second Grand Criminal Chamber of the Frankfurt Regional Court. Frankfurt. Soccer World Cup started in 2006.
For about fifty minutes, prosecutor Philipp Schulz explained why prosecutors consider defendants Wolfgang Niersbach, Horst R. Schmidt and Theo Zwanziger since officials of the German Football Federation (DFB) evaded taxes by declaring the payment as a contribution to a World Cup gala, which never took place, when filing the 2006 tax return in favor of the DFB. Since the status of non-profit organization was denied in 2006, the sum amounts to 13,710,343 euros.
Where did the 6.7 million euros end up?
The defendants, Niersbach and Zwanziger, are former presidents of the DFB, Schmidt was its general secretary and treasurer, and they consider themselves unfairly persecuted. The transfer of 6.7 million euros initiated by them in April 2005 from the organizing committee of the 2006 World Cup to the International Football Association FIFAwhich later ended up in an account of the former Adidas boss, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, was a business expense and was therefore legally claimed for tax purposes, but in 2005 and not in 2006, as the Public Ministry assumes.
The background: Louis-Dreyfus, who died in 2009, was the head of the World Cup organizing committee and died on January 7 of this year. Franz Beckenbauer had granted a loan of such an amount in 2002, after which 10 million Swiss francs from an account in Switzerland financed by Beckenbauer ended up in Qatar between June and September 2002, to the Kemco Scaffolding company of then FIFA official Mohammed Bin Hammam . The nature and scope of the agreement between Qatar and Beckenbauer is unclear.
Niersbach's defense lawyer, Sven Diener, requested on Monday that the proceedings be suspended by means of a trial ruling, after the reading of the charges and the defense's opening statements. The matter was finally processed by Swiss justice, which closed the process against the accused in 2021 due to the statute of limitations. This opinion was also adopted by the Frankfurt Regional Court in October 2022. However, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt annulled the decision to dismiss the proceedings on April 20, 2023.
It was the second time that the higher regional court contradicted the regional court; The latter had already refused to open the procedure in October 2018 because he did not see sufficient suspicions. In August 2019, the Higher Regional Court opened the procedure following a complaint from the prosecutor.
Zwanziger wants to be acquitted
For the main hearing, 24 days are scheduled until the end of October; However, the prosecutor's office and Niersbach and Schmidt's lawyers have expressed interest in suspending the proceedings in exchange for monetary remuneration. The regional court rejected such an agreement at the beginning of the year because Zwanziger was not included in the discussions.
He, in turn, said Monday that he wanted to be acquitted. He has “sympathies” for receiving evidence. His lawyer did not support the request to dismiss the proceedings. The court, chaired by Judge Eva-Marie Distler, continues the proceedings on Thursday. So Schmidt and Zwanziger want to get to work.