Already indicted in France, in May 2019, for "Active corruption" Nasser Al-Khelaifi ("NAK") was not done with the justice system in the 2017 Qatar World Athletics Awards investigation. The Qatari President of Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG) was indicted on Thursday February 20 by the Public Prosecutor of the Swiss Confederation (MPC) in the context of the investigation into "The granting of broadcasting rights for several editions (from 2018 to 2030) the Football World Cup and the Confederations Cup ", according to the press release from the Swiss public prosecutor's office.
NAK is accused "From instigation to unfair management" as the boss of the BeIN Media group. If he remains under threat of a trial in Switzerland, the Qatari has seen the charges of "Active corruption" who were hanging over him after the International Football Federation (FIFA) decided to withdraw the complaint it had lodged in December 2016. This notably challenged the allocation of media rights to the 2026 Football World Cups and 2030 for the Middle East and North Africa region, in exchange for the granting of improper advantages (a villa in Sardinia, Italy) to the Frenchman Jérôme Valcke, ex-secretary general of FIFA.
In the focus of the MPC since 2017, Mr. Al-Khelaifi and Mr. Valcke benefit from a partial classification of the procedure after FIFA informed the MPC in late January, having found a "Amicable agreement" with the president of PSG. This arrangement, that "The International Federation has not defined further", according to the Swiss prosecution, benefits "Partly" also to Mr. Valcke. Even if the latter, who remains accused of corruption in an adjoining file and is indicted on several counts, did not participate in this conciliation with FIFA.
Al-Khelaifi's lawyers welcome "Dropping charges of private bribery". "Our client is now accused of only one offense: of inciting Jérôme Valcke not to return alleged benefits to FIFA. Offense that was not mentioned for the first time until December 2, 2019 (at the final hearing) to the surprise of all parties, who have not been educated, and about whom our client has never been able to speak, " indicates Me Grégoire Mangeat, one of the Swiss advisers to Mr. Al-Khelaïfi. Their offensive client filed a challenge to the prosecutors in his case before the Federal Criminal Court (TPF).
About-face
Why has FIFA withdrawn its complaint and what is behind this mysterious "friendly agreement"? When contacted, FIFA did not want to do "No comments at this stage".
According to our information, she questions the legal merits of the accusations made against the president of PSG in the document sealing the friendly agreement. In addition, the Federation takes its turn there and says that the amount paid in 2014 by BeIN was in line with market prices at the time. "FIFA lawyers knew they were going into the wall", slides someone close to the file.
In December 2016, the filing of the complaint had particularly embarrassed the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, then under pressure from Swiss justice. Privileged interlocutor of Mr. Al-Khelaïfi when he was secretary general of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), from 2009 to 2016, Mr. Infantino did not "Never tried to cancel" the 2014 contract, referred to in the criminal proceedings, which secures (against 480 million euros) the granting to BeIn Media of the rights to the 2026 and 2030 Worlds.
Was financial compensation planned as part of this friendly agreement between FIFA and Nasser Al-Khelaifi? "No payment was made in connection with the release of charges", says a spokesman for Qatari.
Sensitive context
The agreement between FIFA and Al-Khelaifi inevitably refers to the burning record of the controversial awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, peppered with suspicions of corruption. In this sensitive context, was it necessary to save Private Nasser by withdrawing the complaint? "FIFA have found stronger than they have with Qatar", quips a connoisseur of the International Federation.
The deal comes after Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber was removed from FIFA-related investigations in June 2019 and is the subject of a disciplinary investigation for having met with Mr. Infantino three times informally. Have the two men raised the Al-Khelaifi case?
In June 2017, during their last known meeting, Mr. Lauber and Mr. Infantino met at the Schweizerhof hotel in Bern. The Qatari ambassador to Switzerland stays at this facility year-round. Which belongs to a company linked to a sovereign fund … Qatari.
