Former Secretary General of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Jérôme Valcke, and CEO of BeIN and President of PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, have been charged in the investigation into the granting of rights broadcast of several editions of the Football World Cup and the Confederations Cup, announced Thursday the office of the Attorney General of Switzerland.
The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Swiss Confederation (MPC) however clarified that FIFA had recently informed it of the withdrawal of its complaint – filed at the end of 2016 – against Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
“Amicable agreement” with FIFA
Under criminal proceedings since October 2017, Jérôme Valcke has been charged with corruption as well as on several counts including criminal offenses of mismanagement and falsification of documents, said the Swiss federal prosecutor's office.
For his part, the Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaïfi ("NAK"), as well as a third person, a businessman whose name has not been revealed, have been charged with inciting Jérôme Valcke to commit these offenses criminal.
After the MPC conducted the final hearing in December 2019 and after it announced in writing to the parties the imminent closure by indictment, FIFA informed the MPC in late January 2020 and in writing, having found with Al-Khelaïfi an "amicable agreement", which she did not define further, and she therefore declared to withdraw her criminal complaint against Al-Khelaïfi and in part also against Valcke.
The withdrawal relates to the charges of active and passive corruption between Mr. Al-Khelaïfi and Mr. Valcke in connection with the allocation of media rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups and other FIFA events in the same period for the region of the Middle East and North Africa, in exchange for the granting of the aforementioned advantages in connection with the villa in Sardinia.
"NAK", however, remains accused of "unfairly instigating". "This is a complex matter", is said to the Swiss prosecution, which indicates "Having finished his work on this file. The withdrawal of the FIFA complaint complicated matters a little. We have no details on the reasons for this withdrawal. It is now up to the Federal Criminal Court to consider requests for recusation and to decide whether a trial should take place. "
Mr. Al-Khelaifi is also indicted in France
" Most importantly, all charges of private bribery relating to the granting of media rights have been dropped, entrusts to World Me Grégoire Mangeat, the Swiss lawyer who defends Mr. Al-Khelaïfi with Me Fanny Margairaz. These charges, disputed from day one, were not solid. "
" It is now accepted that the 2026-2030 World Cup media rights contract has been negotiated and concluded in accordance with all applicable rules, assures Me Mangeat. Our client is only accused of one single offense: of inciting Jérôme Valcke not to return alleged benefits to FIFA. This accusation lacks seriousness. It was not mentioned for the first time, however, on December 2, 2019, to the surprise of all the parties, was not informed, and our client was never able to speak about it. "
Mr. Mangeat indicates that counsel will plead "l"Full acquittal" of their client. A request for recusal related to "the conduct of the final hearing" was filed by Mr. Al-Khelaïfi and Mr. Valcke with the Federal Criminal Court (TPF). The TPF will ultimately decide whether a trial will take place.
Mr. Al-Khelaifi was also indicted in May 2019 for active bribery in France in the context of an investigation into the award of the 2017 World Athletics Championships.
