PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi was on Thursday charged with corruption in connection with the bidding process for this year’s world athletics championships in Doha, judicial sources said.
Al-Khelaifi, who is also the boss of Qatari television channel BeIN Sports, has been under investigation since March in a probe of the bidding process for the 2017 and the 2019 world championships.
Doha lost out to London to stage the 2017 worlds but beat off opposition to host the 2019 event from Eugene in the United States and Barcelona.
Al-Khelaifi was informed by letter of his “mis en examen,” a French legal term that has no direct equivalent in the American or British legal systems but roughly translates as being charged.
The French term does not automatically trigger a trial but means that prosecutors believe there is strong or corroborated evidence of wrongdoing.
Al-Khelaifi was unable to attend questioning by investigators scheduled for May 16 as he was in Qatar for the domestic cup final.
French prosecutors are looking specifically at two payments of $3.5 million in 2011 by Oryx Qatar Sports Investment, a company jointly owned by Al-Khelaifi and his brother Khalid, to a sports marketing firm run by Papa Massata Diack.
Diack’s father Lamine Diack was president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 1999 to 2015 and a member of the International Olympic Committee.
As well as probing the world athletics championships the French investigation is also examining circumstances in which the Olympic Games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro for 2016 and Tokyo for 2020.
Prior to the decision to charge him, Al-Khelaifi had been questioned in March as “person of interest” in the case revolving around the 2011 payments by Oryx which were made at a time when Doha was seeking to host the 2017 world athletics championship and the 2020 Olympics.
Investigators were seeking to determine whether, in return for the payments, Lamine Diack used his influence to gain votes for Doha among IAAF members and also to obtain a date change for the competitions to avoid the heat of the Qatar summer.
The world championships take place at the Khalifa International Stadium between September 27 and October 6.
Al-Khelaifi’s lawyer Francis Szpiner denied all wrongdoing on the part of his client saying the Oryx payments were fully transparent and the facts of the case “do not concern him (Al-Khalaifi).”
The head of BeIN Sports “authorized no payment of any kind in relation to the allegations made,” he told AFP.
“Nasser Al-Khelaifi was neither a shareholder, nor a director of Oryx en 2011. He did not intervene either directly or indirectly in the candidature of Doha...”
Another BeIN executive, Yousef Al-Obaidly, a PSG board member and close associate of Al-Khelaifi, is also under investigation in France which claims jurisiction because the IAAF is based in Monaco.
Al-Obaidly has also denied all wrongdoing, saying the allegations were “utterly baseless and unsubstantiated.”
Lamine Diack, meanwhile, was charged with corruption in March in relation to the case while an arrest warrant has been issued for his Senegal-based son, also wanted for corruption and money laundering, according to a source close to the probe.
French prosecutors this week recommended that Diack and his son stand trial in a separate matter, for allegedly obstructing sanctions against Russia for doping in return for payments when he was IAAF president.
PSG chief Al-Khelaifi charged with corruption over Qatar worlds athletics champs
PSG chief Al-Khelaifi charged with corruption over Qatar worlds athletics champs
- BeIN Sports boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi has been under investigation since March
- Another BeIN executive is also under investigation in France
Proud dad Zinedine Zidane watches Algeria beat Sudan 3-0
- Former Real Madrid legend Zidane watches his son Luca keep a clean sheet in the Algeria goal during the Africa Cup of Nations match in Rabat
- Riyad Mahrez scores twice for Algeria, one of the tournament favorites, who move top of Group E
RABAT, Morocco: France great Zinedine Zidane watched his goalkeeper son’s safe hands as Algeria started its Africa Cup of Nations campaign with a 3-0 win over 10-man Sudan on Wednesday.
Riyad Mahrez scored twice and the 20-year-old Ibrahim Maza scored his first international goal for Algeria, one of the tournament favorites, to move top of Group E.
“The most important thing was to start with a win,” Mahrez said. “The last two AFCONs, we didn’t start good. Today, we really wanted to make it happen and we did.”
Zidane, who was at the sweet-smelling Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat to see his son Luca Zidane playing in the Algeria goal, was feted by the crowd every time he was shown on the big screens.
Luca Zidane opted to represent his grandfather’s country after getting the Fennec Foxes’ invitation and he’s been given his chance to shine because of an injury to Alexandre Oukidja, who might have been expected to start otherwise.
Algeria wasted little time Wednesday with Mahrez sweeping in the opener in the second minute after unselfish play from Hicham Boudaoui to set him up.
Zidane was called into action shortly afterward to deny Yaser Awad on a break.
Sudan had to play all its qualification games away from home because of the near 1,000-day old civil war ravaging the country.
Though the Algerians looked confident and played with intensity, the big chances fell at the other end, with Zidane saving again from Awad before Abdel Raouf fired over.
Salah Adil was sent off just as the rain began to fall shortly before the break with his second yellow card for a foul on Rayan Aït-Nouri, who would have been through otherwise.
But the Algerian fans, who were in a majority, needed to be patient.
Mohammed Amoura produced a brilliant cross with the outside of his boot for Mahrez to score in the 61st, and Baghdad Bounedjah headed the ball into Maza’s path for the substitute to complete the scoring in the 85th.
Drama in Casablanca
Edmond Tapsoba completed a remarkable turnaround as Burkina Faso scored two goals in stoppage time to beat 10-man Equatorial Guinea 2-1 in the early Group E game.
Tapsoba’s team had pushed hard for the opening goal after Basilio Ndong was sent off early in the second half for a bad challenge on Bertrand Traoré’s ankle.
Marvin Anieboh then stunned the Stallions when he launched himself at Carlos Akapo’s cross to score with a looping header in the 85th minute.
Georgi Minoungou equalized in the fifth minute of stoppage time and Tapsoba headed the winner three minutes after that.
Later Wednesday in Group F, defending champion Ivory Coast began its title defense against Mozambique in Marrakech and five-time champion Cameroon opened against Gabon in the coastal city of Agadir.
