The swiss prosecutor's office requested this Tuesday three years in prison for former FIFA number two Jérome Valcke, and 28 months in prison for the president of beIN Media and Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, for a case of sale of television rights to the Soccer World Cup and the Confederations Cup, according to the Swiss agency Keystone-ATS.
This accusation, which should be followed this Wednesday and Thursday by defense allegations, is the most severe pronounced on European soil in the many cases that have attacked world football in recent years, after the convictions handed down in the United States against former South American leaders.
Valcke, right-hand man until 2015 of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, is accused of wanting to transfer the Middle East and North African rights for the projection of 2026 and 2030 World Cups to beIN Media, in exchange for alleged bribes from Al-Khelaïfi.
According to the prosecution, the case refers to a meeting held on October 24, 2013 at the French headquarters of beIN, in which the president of PSG supposedly promised to buy one luxurious villa in Sardinia for five million euros (5.86 million dollars), granting his exclusive use to Valcke.
Al-Khelaïfi, who has denied any “corrupting pact”, as Valcke has done, he was then to hand over the property to the French two years later under certain conditions. In return, according to the prosecution, Valcke promised to “do whatever he could” for beIN to become the regional radio station of the two World Cups, something that happened on April 29, 2014, in an agreement that the FIFA never contested.
The prosecution, however, he has not been able to accuse Valcke and Al-Khelaïfi of “corruption”, due to a friendly agreement concluded at the end of January between the Qatari leader and FIFA, which withdrew its complaint against him.
The federal prosecutor, Joël Pahud, reproached Nasser Al-Khelaïfi his “contempt for justice”, considering that he had hardly collaborated in the debates by denying having bought the Sardinian residence, despite the evidence gathered by the investigators.
For its part, Valcke, resident in Barcelona, ”Has suffered professionally in recent years. He has not found a job after FIFA, ”he said. Joël Pahud. At the beginning of his hearing, the former FIFA number two said that he had not been able to open a bank account in Europe since 2017, had to sell his yacht and jewelry, and their Porsche Cayenne had been stolen.