December 4 – Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the president of Paris St. Germain and boss of beIN Sport Media, has been questioned for a second time by Swiss federal prosecutors as he seeks to have a two-year investigation into allegations he bribed the man who was once FIFA’s second most senior official dismissed.
The office of Switzerland’s attorney general says al-Khelaifi, disgraced former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, and a businessman who has not been identified, presented themselves for questioning in the Swiss capital, Bern.
Criminal proceedings against Al-Khelaifi, Valcke, and the unnamed businessman working in sports rights were announced by the Swiss attorney general two years ago.
When first grilled shortly after the case was opened, Al-Khelaifi, who is alleged to have struck illegal deals with Valcke for the award of broadcasting rights for the 2026 and 2030 World Cup, protested his innocence and said he had “nothing to hide”.
But prosecutors suspect that Valcke was corrupted into giving the rights to BeIN through the gift of use of a luxury villa in Italy.
A statement from the Swiss prosecution office said final examination hearings have now been held ahead of decisions “whether the proceedings are abandoned or a summary penalty order is issued or an indictment is filed.”
In order to obtain the rights, BeIN paid a reported €480 million to FIFA, a sum that is considerably larger than the amount that they paid to broadcast the 2018 and 2022 editions of the tournament (€300 million).
BeIN argued the price it paid for the 2026 and 2030 tournaments showed that no favourable deal was struck.
“The principal allegation against Mr Al-Khelaifi… has no single basis in law or fact,” beIN said in a statement. “For this reason a motion to dismiss proceedings will be filed by Mr. Al-Khelaifi’s lawyers this week.”
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