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Former FIFA secretary general is suspect in criminal case

Former FIFA secretary general is suspect in criminal case | iNFOnews.ca
FILE - In this Jan. 24, 2005 file photo Franz Beckenbauer, head of the organizing committee for the Soccer World Cup 2006, and FIFA Secretary General Urs Linsi present an advertising poster for the ticket sale prior to a press conference for the Soccer World Cup 2006 in Germany in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt. The office of Switzerland's attorney general said Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016 their criminal investigation into FIFA has expanded with former secretary general Urs Linsi becoming a suspect and police searching properties. The case relates to Germany’s staging of the 2006 World Cup. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop, file)

BERN, Switzerland – Swiss authorities say their criminal investigation into FIFA has expanded and former secretary general Urs Linsi is a suspect.

The case relates to Germany’s staging of the 2006 World Cup and a suspicious payment of 6.7 million euros ($7 million) that went through FIFA in 2005 when Linsi was its top administrator.

The office of Switzerland’s attorney general says it conducted house searches relating to Linsi on Nov. 23 “at various locations in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.”

Linsi left FIFA in 2007.

Former Germany great Franz Beckenbauer is already a criminal suspect along with three other members of the World Cup organizing committee in the case. The complex trail of the 2005 payment linked FIFA, German organizers and Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the late former head of Adidas.

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