The Swiss prosecution on Tuesday requested 28 months in prison against the president of beIN Media and PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, as well as three years against the former number 2 of Fifa, Jérôme Valcke.
These are the first two prison sentences required on European soil in the multiple scandals that plague world football.
The Swiss prosecution on Tuesday requested 28 months in prison against the president of beIN Media and PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, as well as three years against the former number 2 of Fifa, Jérôme Valcke, in a television rights lawsuit.
These are the first two prison sentences required on European soil in the multiple scandals that plague world football, after the conviction in the United States of several former South American leaders.
Valcke would have requested the help of Al-Khelaïfi to buy a villa in Sardinia
Main defendant, Jérôme Valcke has been appearing since last Monday before the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona, in two cases related to his quest for money to ensure a "cicada" lifestyle, summed up the federal prosecutor Joël Pahud, quoted by the Swiss agency Keystone-ATS.
In the first part, the prosecution accuses him of having requested the help of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi in the summer of 2003 to buy a luxury villa in Sardinia, when beIN was negotiating the extension of its media rights in North Africa and in the Middle East for the 2026 and 2030 Worlds.
"Flagship personality of football", recalled the prosecution, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi had acquired the house for 5 million euros, via a company transferred almost immediately to the brother of one of his close associates, before making it available to Jérôme Valcke.
The two men in turn evoked a "private" arrangement, unrelated to the contract concluded by beIN with Fifa in April 2014, under conditions presented by the defense as "very advantageous" for the football body.