Germany faced fresh embarrassment on Monday over its handling of next month’s World Cup after it emerged that an official sponsor had given hundreds of free tickets to leading German politicians.
Prosecutors said they were investigating whether the German energy company EnBW had broken the law by offering the tickets to regional and national MPs. They were examining whether the MPs who accepted the tickets had received preferential treatment.
The revelation is likely to add to the pressure on Germany’s 2006 World Cup organising committee, which has faced criticism over its decision to allocate about 40% of the three million tournament tickets to sponsors, VIPs and non-competing football associations.
An EnBW spokesperson, Hermann Schierwater, denied on Monday that the company had broken the law. ”We had 12 000 tickets. We gave them to special guests. They included businessmen, politicians and customers. We see no reason why not.”
The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said many politicians had turned down the free tickets. Wolfgang Niersbach, the organising committee’s vice-president, said: ”People are afraid that if they say yes they will get a letter from the prosecutor.” – Guardian Unlimited Â