“Summer fairy tale” process against Theo Zwanziger

The Justice Marathon in the summer fairy tale affair has come to an end for the former DFB President Theo Zwanziger after almost ten years. The Frankfurt Regional Court ceased the proceedings against the 79-year-old for suspected severe tax evasion against a money requirement of 10,000 euros for a charitable institution without judgment.

Both twenties and the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt as the plaintiff followed a corresponding proposal by the court on the 28th day of negotiation.

“I am happy with the decision and can go through the country,” said Zwanziger after his personal final in the legal review of the affair about the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Already in September of the previous year, the proceedings against the also accused ex-DFB boss Wolfgang Niersbach (74) had been terminated against the payment of a money fee of 25,000 euros.

The former DFB general secretary Horst R. Schmidt had agreed on a procedural setting with the district court and the public prosecutor at the end of last week. The 83-year-old has to pay 65,000 euros. All three accused had always strictly rejected the allegations.

Zwanziger’s lawyer Hans-Jörg Metz stated: “The explanations of the 2nd Commercial Chamber in the last indications that
The public prosecutor essentially connected: Theo Zwanziger did not do anyone, Theo Zwanziger has not veiled and Theo Zwanziger is not a tax evader – with Theo twenties the wrong thing was on the dock. “

Metz confirmed that twenties did not “buy”. “With the current procedure, there was rather the possibility to get a final settlement in Switzerland and Germany after almost ten years of investigative and judicial proceedings carried out,” said the lawyer. The low amount of the money edition is also “at a distance to the hiring amounts at significantly more than double height for Wolfgang Niersbach and in a significantly multiple height for Horst R. Schmidt,” said Metz.

In the process that will be continued against the German Football Association, the core of a DFB payment of 6.7 million euros was essentially declared the World Association a year later as the public prosecutor’s office as an operating expenditure. As a result, taxes of 2.7 million euros were evaded.

The 6.7 million euros had been forwarded by the World Association FIFA on the same day to an account of the now deceased Robert Louis-Dreyfus. This was the repayment of a loan of ten million Swiss francs, which Franz Beckenbauer received from the French entrepreneur in 2002.

According to Qatar, this sum flowed into a company account of the then FIFA Executive member, Mohamed bin Hammam. According to the presiding judge Eva-Marie Distler, it was a “bribe payment” with which the DFB secured a FIFA subsidy at the World Cup costs of CHF 250 million. The DFB veiled the debt as a contribution to a planned World Cup opening gala, which was later canceled for cost reasons.

Since the public prosecutor generally rejects the proceedings against the DFB, the association must continue to worry about the hoped-for tax repayment of around 22 million euros.

The association had subsequently had to pay this sum to the tax authorities after the non-profitability for 2006 had retrospectively withdrawn from him in the course of the summer fairy tale affair.