Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, boss of beIN Media and PSG, and Jérôme Valcke, ex-number 2 of Fifa, have been appearing on appeal since Monday in Switzerland in a TV rights case, after being acquitted at first instance.
This new trial of the two leaders opened at the beginning of the morning before the Court of Appeal of the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona and is due to end on Thursday.
In the most publicized part, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, 48, and Jérôme Valcke, 61, are accused of having concluded a pact behind the back of Fifa, falling under "unfair management" and liable to five years in prison. jail.
At first instance, in the fall of 2020, the prosecution had requested 28 months' imprisonment against the Qatari leader and 3 years against the Frenchman, but had suffered an almost total setback prompting him to appeal.
Like the prosecution, the Federal Criminal Court had nevertheless estimated that Jérôme Valcke had monetized his support for the beIN channel in exchange for a luxurious villa on the Sardinian Emerald Coast, bought for him for 5 million euros at the end of 2013 by a company briefly owned by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
The former secretary general of Fifa had requested the help of the Qatari leader to finance the "Villa Bianca", a few months before the signing in April 2014 of a contract between beIN and the football body relating to rights in Africa North and Middle East of the 2026 and 2030 Worlds.
“There is no indication that Fifa could have obtained a more advantageous contract”
In their civil judgment, the magistrates had even qualified as a “bribe” the deposit for the Sardinian villa.
But, in criminal matters, the court could not convict for "private corruption", Fifa having withdrawn its complaint in January 2020 after an agreement with Mr. Al-Khelaïfi, the terms of which have never been made public.
So there remained the accusation of "unfair management", which requires proving that the agreement between the two men harmed Fifa.
However "nothing indicates that Fifa could have obtained a more advantageous contract" than that signed with beIN for 480 million dollars for two World Cups, or 60% more than for the 2018 and 2022 Worlds, while the chain was alone in the running, had ruled the court.
