German football legend Franz Beckenbauer was President of the 2006 World Cup organising committee. (AFP)

DPA/Berlin

World Cup 2006 bid and organising chief Franz Beckenbauer yesterday dismissed allegations of vote-buying in connection with bringing the tournament to Germany.
“I have never sent money to anyone in order to acquire votes for the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany. And I am convinced that no other member of the bid committee did this either,” Beckenbauer said in a brief statement issued by his management.
Der Spiegel news magazine said Friday that the German bid committee had a slush fund of what is now the equivalent of 6.7 million euros (7.6 million dollars) - provided by private funds of then Adidas chief executive Robert Louis-Dreyfus - which was used to buy votes from four Asian executives at the ruling body FIFA to secure the 2006 World Cup.
Germany won the FIFA vote 12-11 against South Africa, with the eight European executives believed to have supported Germany. German football federation (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach said on Saturday “I can absolutely and categorically rule out” the existence of such a fund.
“I can assure that there was no slush fund at the DFB, the bid committee and the organising committee,” he said, adding that there was “definitely not” any kind of vote-buying.
Niersbach was a vice-president of the German organising committee for the 2006 tournament and became DFB boss in 2012. Another former organising committee vice-president, Fedor Radman, also denied the claims Saturday.
The DFB also said in another statement Friday that a payment of 6.7 million euros from the World Cup organising committee to FIFA in 2005 “may not have been used for its intended purpose” but that it was “in no way linked to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup.”
Der Spiegel said that Louis-Dreyfus wanted the money back in 2005 and that the payment was made via FIFA, disguised as money for a pre-tournament cultural event in Berlin which was later cancelled.
German politicians have called for a thorough investigation including external experts, and FIFA said it would also probe the “very serious allegations.”
Football in general and FIFA have been rocked by corruption accusations on various fronts, with American and Swiss criminal probes ongoing. FIFA president Joseph Blatter and UEFA boss Michel Platini are currently suspended by the ethics committee.
Beckenbauer was last year suspended for several weeks by the ethics committee for initially not answering questions on a FIFA probe into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in 2010 when he was on the FIFA executive committee.