Former German soccer federation president, Theo Zwanziger has again declared his innocence over a 6.7 million Euros ($7.5 million) payment made before the 2006 World Cup.
Zwanziger held a press conference Tuesday to announce he had filed a criminal complaint against Swiss prosecutors in response to the charges of fraud filed against him and three others last week. Zwanziger accused prosecutors of deliberately misinterpreting the evidence.
Zwanziger, Horst R. Schmidt and Swiss ex-FIFA general secretary, Urs Linsi face charges of jointly committing fraud. Wolfgang Niersbach – Zwanziger’s successor as German soccer federation president – is charged with being complicit in fraud.
Proceedings against Franz Beckenbauer, who headed Germany’s 2006 World Cup organising committee, are being conducted separately due to health reasons.