The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee, under its deputy chairman Alan Sullivan, has opened formal adjudicatory proceedings against Helmut Sandrock, former general secretary of the German Football Association (DFB) and tournament director of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, based on the final report submitted by the investigatory chamber.

The investigations concerning Mr Sandrock as conducted by Dr Cornel Borbély, chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, were opened on 22 March 2016 and the final report was passed to the adjudicatory chamber on 1 September 2016. In its final report, the investigatory chamber recommends a sanction of social work to be determined by the adjudicatory chamber and a fine of CHF 50,000 for violations of arts 13 (General rules of conduct), 15 (Loyalty) and 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

Under its deputy chairman Mr Sullivan, the adjudicatory chamber has studied the report of the investigatory chamber carefully and decided to institute formal adjudicatory proceedings against Mr Sandrock.

In the course of the proceedings, Mr Sandrock will be invited to submit his position including any evidence with regard to the final report of the investigatory chamber (art. 70 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics) and may request a hearing (art. 74 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics).

For reasons linked to privacy rights and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the adjudicatory chamber will not publish further details at the present time.