The investigation of the French justice around the award of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is accelerating. according to Mediapart the National Financial Prosecutor (PNF) opened a judicial investigation, Monday, December 9.
On June 18, the former president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Michel Platini, and Sophie Dion, the former technical advisor in charge of sports of President Sarkozy, were placed in police custody in Nanterre. on the premises of the Central Office for Combating Corruption and Financial and Tax Crimes (OCLCIFF), before leaving it free.
Claude Guéant, the former Secretary General of the Elysée, had, he, been auditioned under the status of "Free suspect". That day, the three protagonists had been confronted by the investigators. Which wanted to cross their divergent versions for a lunch organized at the Elysee, November 23, 2010, a dozen days before the vote of award of the 2022 World.
Lunch at the center of the investigation
This luncheon is at the center of the preliminary survey of the PNF, opened in 2016 to "Private corruption", " conspiracy ", "Influence peddling and concealment of influence peddling". Around his table, Nicolas Sarkozy had invited Michel Platini, the current Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, then respectively prime minister and foreign minister of the emirate. According to the archives of the Elysée, to which The world had access, Mme Dion and Mr. Guéant also participated in this lunch.
"Mr. Sarkozy never asked me to vote for Qatar"
If he admitted having voted for the emirate during the vote of attribution of the Mondial 2022, Michel Platini always assured that he did not know the presence of the Qataris at this lunch before going there. "Mr. Sarkozy never asked me to vote for Qatar. I understand, since there were the Qataris, that he wanted me to do it. "he confided World, in September.
In October 2010, a month before lunch at the Elysee, Mr. Platini had met in Geneva, Tamim Al-Thani. The former boss of European football (2007-2015) says he told the Emir of Qatar: "I'm voting for you, but the World Cup needs to be organized in tall Gulf countries. "
Lunch at the Elysee feeds suspicions of collusion of interests and state interventionism in sports affairs. It took place eight months before the acquisition, in June 2011, of Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG) by the Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) fund for 76 million euros, settled in one go.
Platini "used by Sarkozy"?
In private, Mr Platini regretted having "Been used by Sarkozy who defended his interests". As part of its preliminary investigation, the PNF also investigated whether there had been an elevator referral between Mr Sarkozy and the former UEFA president regarding the awarding of Euro 2016 , in France.
French justice is also interested in a secret contract between FIFA and the Qatari chain Al-Jazeera, three weeks before the election. A bonus of 100 million dollars (89 million euros) was expected in case of victory of the emirate at the polls. The sum was paid to FIFA. In addition, voting members of the FIFA Executive Committee were each offered a bonus of $ 200,000 before the vote, following the success of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
