Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP)
Judged in Switzerland in one of the multiple scandals of world football, the boss of beIN Media and PSG Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was acquitted on Friday, while the former number 2 of FIFA Jérôme Valcke escapes prison and receives bail a light sentence for a secondary charge.
The three magistrates of the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona dismantled in their judgment almost all the charges, leaving only a suspended fine sentence for "forgery in the titles" against Jérôme Valcke, in a case unrelated to Mr. Al-Khelaïfi.
"After four years of baseless allegations, fictitious accusations and constant attacks on my reputation, justice has completely cleared me. Today's verdict is a real victory", rejoiced in a communicated the Qatari leader, exempted Friday from appearance by the court because of the health situation. unfair management "and punishable by five years in prison.
At the end of ten days of hearing in September, the prosecution had requested 28 months of imprisonment against the boss of beIN and Paris SG, 3 years against Jérôme Valcke and 30 months against a Greek businessman, Dinos Deris, who was acquitted on Friday on charges of "private corruption".
- "No harm" -
In their judgment, the three magistrates nevertheless estimated, like the prosecution, that Mr. Valcke had cashed his support for beIN in exchange for a luxurious villa on the Sardinian Emerald Coast, bought for him 5 million euros at the end of 2013 by a company briefly owned by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
The former secretary general of Fifa admitted to having requested the assistance 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 on rights in North Africa and the Middle East of the 2026 and 2030 Worlds.
Sweeping aside the defense thesis, the court ruled "hard to believe" that the arrangement around Villa Bianca was "established in a purely private setting", seeing on the contrary a link with the rights obtained by beIN.
But the magistrates could not convict for "private corruption" in this section: Fifa in fact withdrew its complaint in January after an agreement with Mr. Al-Khelaïfi, which automatically resulted in the abandonment of this charge under Swiss law. in force at the material time.
So there remained the accusation of "unfair management", which requires proving that the agreement between the two men has harmed Fifa.
However "nothing indicates that Fifa could have obtained a more advantageous contract" than that signed with beIN, estimated the court.
- Twenty investigations in progress -
Become a global giant of sports rights, the Qatari channel has indeed spent $ 480 million for two World Cups, 60% more than for the 2018 and 2022 Worlds, a contract qualified at the hearing by Mr. Valcke of "amazing", "fantastic", "sublime for Fifa".
In a separate file but attached to the same hearing, Jérôme Valcke was accused of having received 1.25 million euros from Dinos Deris, in three payments from Liechtenstein, to promote the obtaining of media rights for several World Cups in Greece and Italy: he was again cleared of the main charge.
Beyond the fate of the three defendants, this trial was an important milestone for Swiss justice, which houses most of the international sports organizations on its soil, and has opened around twenty investigations around Fifa for the past five years.
In April, the Federal Criminal Court was forced to close a trial started in March on suspicion of corruption in the attribution of the 2006 World Cup to Germany: first postponed due to the Covid-19, this case involving the former football "Kaiser" Frank Beckenbauer has been overtaken by prescription.
© 2020 AFP