Judged in Switzerland in one of the multiple scandals affecting the world of football, the boss of BeIn Media and PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, was acquitted on Friday, October 30, while the former number 2 of FIFA, Jérôme Valcke escapes prison and receives a light sentence for a secondary charge.
The three magistrates of the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona dismantled in their judgment almost all of the charges, leaving only a suspended fine sentence for “False in titles” against Jérôme Valcke, in a case unrelated to Mr. Al-Khelaïfi.
“After four years of baseless allegations, fictitious accusations and constant attacks on my reputation, the courts have cleared me completely. Today’s verdict is a real victory ”, welcomed in a statement the Qatari leader, that the court exempted Friday, because of the health situation, to appear.
In the main case, Jérôme Valcke and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi were accused of having concluded a pact behind the back of FIFA, falling under the “Unfair management” and liable to five years in prison.
At the end of ten days of hearings in September, the prosecution had requested twenty-eight months imprisonment against the boss of BeIn and PSG, three years against Jérôme Valcke and thirty months against a Greek businessman, Dinos Deris, who was acquitted on Friday of the chief of “Private corruption”.
No harm
In their judgment, the three magistrates nevertheless estimated, like the prosecution, that Mr. Valcke had cashed in his support for BeIn in exchange for a luxurious villa on the Sardinian Emerald Coast, bought for him 5 million euros. at the end of 2013 by a company briefly owned by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
The former FIFA secretary general admitted to asking the Qatari leader for help to finance the “Villa Bianca”, a few months before the signing, in April 2014, of a contract between BeIn and the football body on the rights in North Africa and the Middle East for the 2026 and 2030 Worlds.
Sweeping aside the defense thesis, the court ruled “Hard to believe” that the arrangement around Villa Bianca was “Established in a purely private setting”, seeing on the contrary a link with the rights obtained by BeIn.
But magistrates could not convict for “Private corruption” in this aspect: FIFA in fact withdrew its complaint in January after an agreement with Mr. Al-Khelaïfi, which automatically led to the abandonment of this charge under Swiss law in force at the time of the facts.
So there remained the accusation of “Unfair management”, which requires proof that the agreement between the two men has harmed FIFA. Gold “Nothing indicates that FIFA could have obtained a more advantageous contract” than the one signed with BeIn, the court said.
Twenty investigations in progress
Having become a global sports rights giant, the Qatari channel has in fact spent $ 480 million for two World Cups, 60% more than for the 2018 and 2022 Worlds, a contract that Mr. Valcke qualified, during the ‘audience, of “Amazing”, ” fantastic “ and “Sublime for FIFA”.
In a separate file but attached to the same hearing, Jérôme Valcke was accused of having received 1.25 million euros from Dinos Deris, in three installments, from Liechtenstein, to help obtain the media rights of several World Cups in Greece and Italy. He was, again, cleared of the main charge.
Beyond the fate of the three defendants, this trial was an important milestone for Swiss justice, which houses most of the international sports organizations on its soil, and has opened around twenty investigations around FIFA over the past five years.
In April, the federal criminal court was forced to close a trial started in March on suspicion of corruption in the attribution of the 2006 World Cup to Germany: first postponed due to the Covid-19, this case involving the former “Kaiser” of football Frank Beckenbauer was caught by prescription.
