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 Beckenbauer, who was the 2006 World Cup organizing chief, has said a
controversial 6.7 million euros payment to the soccer world
governing body, currently under investigation by a German
prosecutor, was made in order to release a payment of 170 million
euros back to the organizers to help with preparations for the
tournament.
The affair has rocked German football, with Beckenbauer, an
emblematic sports figure in the country and a former World Cup
winning player and coach at the heart of the scandal.
Blatter, in excerpts of an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel
magazine released on Friday, said the German World Cup organizers
should follow the paper trail to get to the bottom of this affair.
"This is absurd," said Blatter, adding FIFA's 170 million euro
contribution to the World Cup organizers was never tied to any
conditions.
"To pay money to get money? No. This does not exist at FIFA," said
Blatter, who has been suspended as the federation is hit by a
broader corruption scandal that has seen dozens of FIFA officials
arrested.
"MEANT WELL"
Der Spiegel said in October the 6.7 million euro payment was a
return on a loan via FIFA to ex-Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus
that was allegedly used in a votes-for-cash deal with FIFA voting
members during the 2000 bidding campaign for the 2006 tournament,
which Germany won.
Beckenbauer denies the existence of any votes-for-cash deal.
The affair has led to the resignation of German FA (DFB) President
Wolfgang Niersbach, who was a World Cup organizing Vice President at
the time and is now being investigated for tax evasion in relation
to this payment.
Niersbach, shortly before his resignation last month, confirmed in a
press conference the existence of the payment but could not explain
why it had been made.
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"There have to be documents what exactly this money is and if there
are no documents at the DFB then one should go to FIFA and properly
clear this up," Blatter said.
Beckenbauer, who has admitted to the payment but has vehemently
denied any wrongdoing and is not formally under investigation, has
twice discussed the issue with the legal firm in charge of the DFB's
own investigation.
A contract between Beckenbauer and former FIFA vice-president Jack
Warner, now banned from football for life, surfaced last month that
was signed four days before the 2000 vote to give Germany the
competition.
It offered a series of services, including friendly matches and
coaching support to the head of CONCACAF, the governing body for
North and Central America and the Caribbean, which Warner led from
1990 to 2011.
"From today's point of view some of it may look a bit strange and
maybe one would not do it like that again," Beckenbauer said. "But
it was meant well."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Ralph Boulton)
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