The boss of PSG and Bein Media appeared, Monday, March 7, before the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzone, on the first day of his trial on appeal for “aggravated unfair management instigation”.
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Under the eyes of his lawyers and his communicators, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi seizes each of his words in the Great Court Holder of the Federal Criminal Tribunal (TPF) of Bellinzone, capital of Ticino Canton (Switzerland) . Dark suit and concentrated mine, the Qatari boss of Paris-Saint-Germain and Bein Media appeared for more than two hours, Monday, March 7, on the first day of his trial on appeal for “aggravated unfair management instigation”.
In a rigorous English, Mr. Al-Khelaïfi, 48, held the same line of defense in first instance, at the end of which he had been acquitted in October 2020. At the bar he Repeated that he had not benefited from Jérôme Valcke, the former French Secretary General of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Indus benefits of a value between 1.4 million and 2.3 million euros, in exchange for the allocation, in April 2014, to the Qataris al-Jazira groups and bein media of the media rights of the World Cups 2026 and 2030.
It defends oneself to have been the owner of a villa in Sardinia worth 5 million euros and of which Mr Valcke had the exclusive use of March 2014 to September 2015. Despite the judgment of the TPF at first instance, which states the opposite, Mr. Al-Khelaïfi continues to claim that it is the lawyer Abdelkader Bessedik, a “friend of trust, a brother”, who acquired the Villa Bianca through the of a Qatarie company.
“It’s a false accusation”
The tone rises when the President of the Court of Appeal recalls that the Tribunal felt, in October 2020, that the President of the PSG and Mr Valcke, 61, have “concluded a corrupt arrangement” and that the decision of Mr. Al-Khelaïfi to acquire this villa “resulted from the central role played by Mr Valcke in the process of negotiating and awarding” television rights of World Cups 2026 and 2030.
“It’s a false accusation. It makes no sense, is the Qatari, when he has sealed an amicable agreement with FIFA, in 2020, so that the latter withdrew his complaint for” corruption Private “filed in 2016. For the villa, it is a private business between Mr Valcke and Mr. Bessedik, who I granted a 100% reimbursed loan. For television rights, the negotiations had Location Between My Managing Director and the FIFA Television Department. Jérôme Valcke was not involved in the negotiation of rights. We were alone in the market and we paid 65% more [480 million euros] in relation to previous contract. “
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