Swiss justice reported Thursday that it had accused the president of Paris Saint-Germain and the beIN Media television group, Nasser Al Khelaifi, and Jérôme Valcke, former FIFA number two, in a corruption case linked to the attribution of rights televisions of the World Cup.
In a statement, the Swiss attorney general's office (MPC) said it has accused both leaders "in the context of the attribution of media rights to different FIFA World Cups and FIFA Confederations Cups." The MPC accuses Valcke of "passive corruption, multiple unfair management and forgery of documents", while Al Khelaifi and another man, active in the world of sports rights but whose name has not been disclosed by Swiss justice, are accused of "instigation of unfair management committed" by the former FIFA secretary general. This third man is also accused of "active corruption."
According to the MPC, Valcke used, between 2013 and 2015, his influence as general secretary of FIFA "to influence in favor of media partners of his preference in the television rights allocation processes, for Italy and Greece, of several World Cups Soccer and Cups
FIFA Confederations in the period from 2018 to 2030 ".
The investigation revealed, explains the MPC, that Valcke obtained undue benefits from the two co-defendants. The former FIFA number two also managed, according to Swiss justice, to reimburse a deposit of about 500,000 euros that he had transferred to third parties for a villa in Sardinia, then
of the purchase of the villa by Al Khelaifi, through a society.
Valcke then obtained from Al Khelaifi the right to exclusive enjoyment of the villa for a period of 18 months in total - until his suspension from FIFA - without paying his rent, estimated between 900,000 and 1.8 million euros. On the other hand, Valcke received from the third man three payments for a
Total value of 1.25 million euros to your company Sportunited Sarl.
The MPC accuses Valcke of having "enriched illegally" and of not announcing the "benefits" received to FIFA, "thus behaving in a manner contrary to his duties as part of his activity as general secretary" of the organization.
You can follow EL PAÍS Sports on Facebook, Twitter or subscribe here to the Newsletter.