Si, on the football side, Nasser al-Khelaïfi is eager to see what will happen on Wednesday between PSG – the club he chairs – and Real Madrid, this is probably much less the case for the corruption case which concerns him, and which is being tried on appeal this week. This Tuesday, March 8, the Swiss prosecution also requested 28 months in prison against the president of PSG, as well as 35 months against the former number two of Fifa Jérôme Valcke, in this trial on appeal of TV rights.
Unlike the first instance, in the fall of 2020, federal prosecutor Cristina Castellote did not request a partial stay. The two leaders had been acquitted in this case, Jérôme Valcke simply receiving a 120-day suspended fine in a separate case.
Nasser al-Khelaïfi, 48, and Jérôme Valcke, 61, have established a “corrupt arrangement”, hammered the magistrate, quoted by the ATS-Keystone agency, while Swiss justice has been working since 2015 on a series of scandals shaking world football, but has so far only issued a handful of fines.
Did Al-Khelaïfi and Valcke deceive Fifa?
In the most publicized part of the two cases retried since Monday by the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona, the two men are accused of having concluded a pact behind the back of Fifa, falling under “unfair management” and punishable by five years. from prison.
Like the prosecution, the Court had estimated during the first trial that Jérôme Valcke had monetized his support for the beIN channel in exchange for a luxurious villa on the Sardinian Emerald Coast, bought for him for 5 million euros at the end of 2013 by a company briefly owned by Nasser al-Khelaïfi. The former secretary general of Fifa had requested the help of the Qatari leader to finance the “Villa Bianca”, a few months before the signing in April 2014 of a contract between beIN and the football body relating to rights in Africa North and Middle East of the 2026 and 2030 Worlds.
In their civil judgment, the magistrates had even qualified as a “bribe” the deposit for the Sardinian villa. But, in criminal matters, the court could not convict for “private corruption”, Fifa having withdrawn its complaint in January 2020 after an agreement with Nasser al-Khelaïfi, the terms of which have never been made public. So there remained the accusation of “unfair management”, which requires proving that the agreement between the two men harmed Fifa. However, “nothing indicates that Fifa could have obtained a more advantageous contract” than the one signed with beIN for 480 million dollars for two World Cups, i.e. 60% more than for the 2018 and 2022 Worlds, while the chain was alone in the running, had ruled the court.
In her submissions, the prosecutor described Tuesday as “pure speculation” the argument of a contract favorable to Fifa, therefore demanding the conviction of the two leaders. The hearing is due to continue on Wednesday with the defense arguments.
