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The French Jerome Falk, former FIFA Secretary General, the Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of the French club Paris Saint-Germain and the Qatari group beIN SPORTS, will meet, this Monday, before the Swiss justice to be tried in a new chapter of sports corruption cases, and have been charged in one case. Corruption related to the granting of television broadcasting rights for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.
Hearings that were previously postponed due to the Corona virus are scheduled to continue until September 25 at the Bellinzona Federal Criminal Court, but are resumed in light of suspicions about collusion between the Swiss prosecutor and FIFA that undermined their credibility. .
The focus is on Falk, the right-hand man of former Swiss President Joseph Blatter, who is concerned about two separate television rights cases. Falk faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
Falk is accused of facilitating the granting of the rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups to the Middle East and North Africa to the media group “beIN”, in exchange for “unjustified profits” from Al-Khalifi.
According to the prosecution, the matter relates to a meeting held on October 24, 2013 at the French headquarters of the Qatari network “beIN SPORTS”, where it is alleged that Al-Khalifa promised the French to buy a luxurious villa in Sardinia, granting him the right to use it exclusively, while the Qatari denied the accusations.
On the other hand, the Public Ministry alleges that Falk promised to “do everything in his power” so that the Qatari channel “beIN SPORTS” obtains the transport rights for the World Cups, which happened on April 29, 2014 , through an agreement in which the International Federation was never disputed, but legally, it was not. The issue is related to “private corruption”. The prosecution was forced to abandon this description following a “friendly agreement” between FIFA and Al-Khalifi in January, the content of which was not announced.
According to a decision last March, Falk, then a FIFA employee, had to return the money he received in the performance of his duties, “which also applies to bribery.”
Nasser Al-Khelaifi faces charges of inciting Falk to commit serious criminal mismanagement, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Falk, who will be present at the hearing, is accused of exploiting his position in FIFA between 2013 and 2015, to grant television broadcasting rights in Italy and Greece for several copies of the World Cup and other tournaments between 2018 and 2030 “for the benefit of the media networks that he prefers, “in exchange for payments from the Greek businessman. Dinos Deris is also charged.
The case has been weakened by allegations of collusion resulting from three secret meetings in 2016 and 2017 between current FIFA president Janie Infanteo and former Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber.
The duo is under investigation for obstruction of criminal proceedings, while Lauber resigned from his position last July, and if the hearing continues its course, he will be the first judge in Switzerland, home to most of the world’s sports federations. in connection with the FIFA corruption scandals that began five years ago.
