Between two trips, the Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaïfi had to reserve a 48-hour slot in his overloaded schedule to return to the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (TPF) in Bellinzona, capital of the canton of Ticino. Acquitted at first instance, in October 2020, of the head of “aggravated unfair management instigation”, the boss of Paris-Saint-Germain and BeIN Media Group should be present at the TPF on Monday March 7 and Tuesday March 8, during his trial. on appeal, supposed to end Thursday, March 10.
Mr. Al-Khelaïfi, 48, will appear alongside Frenchman Jérôme Valcke, ex-secretary general of the International Football Federation (FIFA), also acquitted in 2020 of the charge of “aggravated unfair management” within the framework of the procedure. criminal proceedings opened, in 2017, by the Public Prosecutor of the Confederation (MPC), against the two men, for the granting of television rights for the 2026 and 2030 Football World Cups to the Qatari channel BeIN Sports.
At first instance, the prosecution had requested twenty-eight months of partial suspended detention against Mr. Al-Khelaïfi: the Qatari was accused of having acquired, in December 2013, a villa in Sardinia for 5 million euros, in order to put it at the disposal of Mr. Valcke, eager to buy this villa.
The MPC accused Mr. Valcke, 61, of having received from Mr. Khelaïfi benefits worth between 1.4 million and 2.3 million euros. To know “exclusive use of villa Bianca”, from March 2014 to September 2015, as well as a reimbursement of 500,000 euros after payment of a deposit for this property. The Frenchman was accused of having caused damage to FIFA in this way.
« Arrangement corruptif »
For investigators, he did ” in return “ the granting to Qatari groups Al-Jazeera and BeIN Media Group of media rights in the Middle East and North Africa for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups. A commercial contract was signed by FIFA to this effect in April 2014, against 480 million dollars (432 million euros). In October 2020, the TPF considered that“no element has allowed us to conclude that FIFA could have concluded more advantageous contracts on the economic level for the aforementioned media rights”.
In another case related to the award of television rights, Mr. Valcke was acquitted in 2020 of the charge of corruption and sentenced to a suspended fine for “false in the titles”. He was “duty to restore” 1.75 million euros to FIFA, including almost 500,000 euros for the villa. If the 2020 TPF decision sounded like a disavowal for the MPC, which appealed, like MM. Al-Khelaïfi and Valcke, the reasoned judgment of the magistrates constituted a severe charge against the defendants.
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