By Andrew Warshaw
November 11- Police have raided the offices of the Malta Football Association in connection with allegations that Germany secured the rights to host the 2006 World Cup after paying financial inducements to several Fifa members including then MFA boss Joseph Mifsud.
Local reports said officers from the country’s Economic Crimes Unit searched through the archives of the federation’s headquarters for any documents that might throw light on the Maltese link to the saga, exposed last week by InsideWorldFootball.
MFA general secretary Bjorn Vassallo confirmed the operation which he said was probably conducted “in conjunction with a wider probe in various other countries where similar allegations have also surfaced up against the respective associations” and that his federation was fully co-operating “in line with our mission to eradicate corruption from football.”
The police raid came in the wake of claims that Franz Beckenbauer, who led the German bid, may have been complicit in influencing the votes of FIFA members in the lead-up to football’s most prestigious tournament being allocated to Germany and may have personally endorsed a financial inducement to Malta just weeks before Mifsud voted in July, 2000.
It is alleged that Beckenbauer may have been party to a tv rights deal for Bayern Munich, where he was president at the time, to play Malta and several other countries who had voting members – on condition Germany landed the tournament. The $250,000 contract with Misfud was signed just a month before the ballot that saw Germany edge South Africa 12-11 with the help of Mifsud’s vote.
Beckenbauer’s alleged involvement came to light following the €6.7 million slush fund scandal exposed by the German magazine Der Spiegel which claimed the money was used to buy votes. Beckenbauer has denied any knowledge of the fund but Der Spiegel’s claims led to the resignation this week of German FA (DFB) chief Wolfgang Niersbach.
Intriguingly, Mifsud told a court hearing on Monday that he could not remember if Beckenbauer was present or not when he signed the Bayern contract. Mifsud was being cross-examined during libel proceedings which he had initiated in 2008 against his successor, Norman Darmanin Demajo, and a newspaper.
Mifsud denied any link between Bayern Munich’s money-spinning friendly Germany’s winning 2006 bid but also reportedly told the court he could not remember either why it took him four months to disclose the contents of the deal signed with Swiss TV rights agency CWL. He described the contract as a “present” from CWL, since at the time the MFA needed money to help build a stadium stand.
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