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Switzerland Files Bribery Charge Against Former FIFA Head

Switzerland Files Bribery Charge Against Former FIFA Head

(Bloomberg) -- The president of France’s biggest soccer club and one of the sport’s former top officials were charged by Swiss authorities in a case involving the awarding of media rights to the World Cup.

Paris Saint-Germain’s Nasser Al-Khelafi, who is also chairman of the BeIn Media Group, and another businessman were charged with “inciting” ex-FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke to accept bribes, including 1.25 million euros ($1.4 million) and access to a Sardinian villa.

The Swiss Attorney General opened the investigation in 2017, and announced the charges Thursday. Valcke was one of several administrators caught up in years of probes into corruption that caused executives including President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter to resign.

Swiss authorities, however, said FIFA withdrew one of the original complaints against Al-Khelafi and partially removed it against Valcke after reaching an “amicable agreement” over the award of broadcast rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.

“After the most forensic public, private, lawful and unlawful scrutiny of all my dealings, I have been cleared of all suspicions of bribery and the case has been dismissed definitively,” Al-Khelafi said in an emailed statement. “While a secondary technical charge remains outstanding, I have every expectation that this will be proven completely groundless and without any substance whatsoever, in the same way as the primary case.”

The bribery charges are based on an allegation that between 2013 and 2015 Valcke exploited his position as secretary general to influence the award of media rights for Italy and Greece for various FIFA tournaments between 2018 and 2030 in order to favor his preferred media partners. In return, the unidentified businessman made the three payments totaling 1.25 million euros to Valcke, authorities allege.

Patrick Hunziker, Valcke’s attorney, said rejected the remaining accusations. “Valcke had no influence over the award of media rights nor did he in any way harm FIFA,” he said.

Al-Khelafi and the third man are charged with inciting Valcke to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement. Investigations revealed that Valcke had received perks from both men, including the rent-free use of a villa for a period of 18 months -- until he was suspended by FIFA.

Al-Khelafi said he fully cooperated with the Swiss prosecutor.

BeIn Media has bought up rights to a host of major sporting events including Spain’s La Liga and England’s Premier League soccer competitions, and the Wimbledon tennis tournament. The Qatar-based company has also orchestrated a global legal and public relations campaign against the widespread piracy of sports rights in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the middle east region.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tereza Elisabeth Pusca in London at tpusca5@bloomberg.net;David Hellier in London at dhellier@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katerina Petroff at kpetroff@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser

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