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Zeit Online: Germany sold arms to Saudi Arabia to win support for their 2006 World Cup bid

Other News Materials 7 June 2015 11:04 (UTC +04:00)
Germany sent Saudia Arabia a shipment of rocket-propelled grenades in order to win its support of their bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Zeit Online: Germany sold arms to Saudi Arabia to win support for their 2006 World Cup bid

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7

Trend:

Germany sent Saudia Arabia a shipment of rocket-propelled grenades in order to win its support of their bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Zeit Online reported.

The allegations are the latest revelations in the widening Fifa scandal, which was sparked by the arrests of seven top Fifa officials in Zurich, Switzerland, as part of a US-led investigation, the UK's Independent newspaper reported.

Sepp Blatter, who has been Fifa president since 1998, stepped down in the wake of the scandal just days after he was re-elected to serve his fifth term.

German newspaper said in its article that then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's government allegedly complied with a request from the German Football Association to send Saudi Arabia arms, in an attempt to steer the Middle Eastern nation away from backing Morocco in the knife-edge vote in 2000.

The government of Gerhard Schröder decided to supply RPGs to Saudi Arabia a week before the World Cup award, according to the report of German newspaper.

It also reported that German firms, including Volkswagen and Bayer, pledged to up their investments in Thailand and South Korea, with Daimler investing 100 million euros in South Korean firm Hyundai.

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