The president of beIN Media and Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, was acquitted on appeal on Friday by the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona (Switzerland), as he had already been at first instance, in a rights case. TV.

His co-defendant, ex-FIFA number 2 Jérôme Valcke, was also acquitted in the same case but given an eleven-month suspended prison sentence for "passive corruption" and "false titles" in a separate case, which earned Greek businessman Dinos Deris a ten-month suspended prison sentence.

During the hearing before the Appeals Chamber in March, the prosecution had requested 28 months in prison against Mr. Al-Khelaïfi as well as 35 months against Mr. Valcke, accusing them of having established a "corrupt arrangement" in the back of FIFA, falling under "unfair management".

“A relentless six-year campaign”

In this part, by far the most publicized of the two cases tried in Bellinzona, the prosecution believed that Mr. Valcke had monetized his support for the beIN channel 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 Mr. 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 world football body relating to the rights in North Africa and the Middle East of the 2026 and 2030 Worlds, the prosecution had recalled.

But as in the first instance, the Court of Appeal found that FIFA had not suffered "damage" - a point legally necessary to establish unfair management.

beIN has indeed signed a very advantageous contract for the body by paying 480 million dollars for the two editions, or 60% more than for the 2018 and 2022 Worlds, when the channel was alone in the running.

“Today's verdict is totally justified.

After a relentless six-year campaign by the prosecution – which each time ignored the fundamental facts and the law – our client has, once again, been fully and completely exonerated”, reacted Me Marc Bonnant, l one of the Qatari leader's three lawyers, in a statement sent to AFP.

In the second case, Jérôme Valcke was accused of having received 1.25 million euros from Dinos Deris to promote the obtaining of media rights in Greece and Italy for several World Cups and of having registered these bribes under the term "loans" in its accounts.

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  • Sport

  • Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG)

  • Justice

  • Nasser Al-Khelaifi

  • tv rights