The French Justice appointed
three judges to investigate the accusations against Nasser Al-Khelaifi,
the president of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), regarding his links to the kidnapping and torture of Tayeb Benabderrahmane (42), a lobbyist Franco-Algerian who usually does business in the Middle East area.
According to the French sports newspaper L'Equipe,
Benabderrahmane denounces that in 2020 he was kidnapped and tortured in Qatar for months
and was only released after signing a confidentiality agreement that would prevent a series of documents that compromise Al-Khelaifi from coming to light. .
"We are very happy that the denunciation of this story is finally the subject of an investigation by the French justice," said the lawyers Maîtres Romain Ruiz and Gabriel Vejnar, responsible for the lobbyist's defense, in statements to 'L'Equipe' .
According to the complaint, the Algerian
was arrested in January 2020 in Qatar,
where he had settled three months earlier to lobby.
There he was imprisoned for six months and tortured.
He was then placed under house arrest and finally allowed to leave in November of the same year,
after having signed a confidentiality protocol
in which he promised not to divulge "sensitive" documents on al-Khelaïfi.
The half Frenchman is the one who has confirmed the news of the investigation to the president of PSG,
one of the strongest men in Qatar
due to his links in the world of sports.
Without going any further, Benabderrahmane would have in his possession
documents that committed the owner of PSG to the sale of television rights
for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups, a plot in which, according to L'Equipe, Jerôme Valcke would also have been involved. , former FIFA Secretary General.
The two men were acquitted in Switzerland (FIFA's headquarters) in October 2020, and then on appeal in June 2022. Al-Khelaifi is also president of the media conglomerate beIn media, responsible for much of the television broadcasting between East.
It is not the first investigation that has set its sights on the boss of PSG
.
A few days ago, the French court declared itself incompetent to prosecute Al Khelaifi, for alleged corruption in the Doha candidacies for the World Athletics Championships.
The final decision of the Court of Cassation, the French high court, implies the annulment of the indictment
for active corruption
that the court pronounced against Al Khelaifi on May 23, 2019.
"I am pleased with this decision that complies with the law and I remember that Nasser Al Khelaifi always denied having committed any wrongdoing in this case," his lawyer Francis Szpiner told AFP.
The decision handed down also annuls the indictment against Yousif Al Obaidli, commercial director of the Al Jazeera network.
The high court estimated in its decision that there is no "indivisible character" in the facts investigated.
Suspicions center on two payments for a total amount of 3.5 million dollars,
which the company Oryx Qatar Sports Investments - directed by Khalid Al Khelaifi, Nasser's brother - made in 2011 to a sports marketing company.
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