Summer fairytale trial

Explosive! “Kaiser” friend confirms dubious payment

Franz Beckenbauer

(Bild: GEPA)

Long-time Beckenbauer confidant Fedor Radmann has spoken at length about the million-euro payment at the center of the World Cup scandal in the Summer Fairytale trial at Frankfurt District Court! During his testimony, the 80-year-old confirmed that a transfer of ten million Swiss francs to an account of the then FIFA official Mohamed bin Hammam had been intended as security for a subsequent 250 million franc grant from FIFA for the 2006 World Cup.

FIFA had demanded this payment and he himself had arranged it, Radmann explained. After a one-on-one meeting between the then FIFA President Joseph Blatter and World Cup OC Chairman Franz Beckenbauer at the end of 2001, the "Emperor", who had died the previous year, had informed him that the FIFA grant hoped for by the World Cup organizers was not looking bad. Beckenbauer had asked Radmann to contact Bin Hammam. He did so, reported the 80-year-old.

Purpose of the payment still unclear
After the telephone call with the influential Qatari businessman and then head of the FIFA Finance Committee, he was promptly called by an employee from Qatar and informed that a security payment was required in return. "I reported this to Franz Beckenbauer. I had doubts as to why FIFA didn't solve this internally, but I didn't think that the money would be used to bribe someone," said Radmann.

However, he never asked about the purpose of the payment "because it was none of my business". The reason remains unclear to this day. Ex-FIFA boss Blatter is due to testify in the trial next week via videos. Radmann explained that he himself only found out later that Beckenbauer had previously received the money that had gone to Qatar as a loan from French entrepreneur Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

DFB repaid Beckenbauer's debt
In April 2005, the German Football Association finally transferred 6.7 million euros to FIFA, which forwarded the money to an account of Louis-Dreyfus one day later. The transfer was declared as a contribution to a planned World Cup gala, which was canceled at the beginning of 2006 for cost reasons.

The DFB booked this sum as an operating expense in 2006. In the opinion of the public prosecutor's office, this was inadmissible. The association had thereby evaded taxes amounting to more than 13 million euros. Former DFB President Theo Zwanziger, the only remaining defendant in the proceedings, strictly rejects this accusation.