Berlin – The investigators knew the way only too well. But the recent raid on the headquarters of the crisis-ridden German Football Association (DFB) has shaken the association more than ever. The large-scale searches on Thursday by the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt/Main cast a dark shadow over the presidential election on March 11, about a week before the desired new beginning.
This time it’s about the suspicion of infidelity. For this reason, the officials were next to the DFB headquarters in the apartment of a former official and in the offices of five companies. Around 70 investigators were looking for evidence in five federal states (Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin and Bremen).
The DFB has promised the investigators its support. “The DFB agreed to cooperate with the investigators in clarifying the allegations in the room,” the association said: “The procedure is aimed at a former employee of the DFB and third parties. Neither the DFB itself nor the persons currently responsible at the DFB are under suspicion.”
Suspicion of the so-called sham contract
Specifically, according to the public prosecutor’s office, it is a contract in the amount of 360,000 euros that a former official concluded with a communications agency on behalf of the DFB. There is suspicion of a so-called sham contract, according to which there should have been no consideration for the payment.
The prosecutor’s office gave no names. Most recently, however, there had been serious allegations against the outgoing treasurer Stephan Osnabrügge and the ex-Secretary General Friedrich Curtius in connection with the ominous contract between the DFB and the former advisor Kurt Diekmann. DFB interim president Rainer Koch has also been repeatedly criticized in the past for the Diekmann contract.