Police swoop on ex-FIFA executive

Lausanne : A Swiss corruption probe into the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany was broadened onWednesday to include former FIFA general secretary Urs Linsi after police raided homes.

Switzerland's attorney general's office (OAG) opened an investigation last year into fraud and money laundering allegations against four members of the 2006 World Cup organising committee: Germans Franz Beckenbauer, Hans-Rudolf Schmidt, Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach.

But on Wednesday the top Swiss prosecution authority said it was now also investigating Linsi, who served as FIFA's secretary general from June 1999 through June 2007. 

In a statement sent to AFP, OAG said that on November 23 "it conducted house searches with the support of the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) at various locations in the German-speaking part of Switzerland."

It said that all the searches related to Linsi.

When contacted by AFP, FIFA refused to comment on an ongoing investigation.

The case first came to light in October 2015, when German news magazine Der Spiegel accused Germany of using a secret slush fund holding 10 million Swiss francs (6.7 million euros according to the exchange rate at the time), to buy votes in support of its bid to host the 2006 World Cup. 

The money was allegedly provided in 2000 by the late Robert Louis-Dreyfus, who at the time was head of German sportswear giant Adidas, at the request of Beckenbauer, who headed the committee promoting Germany's candidacy to host the event.

As a German company and a partner of the German football federation, Adidas had a financial interest in the World Cup being hosted in the country.