LAUSANNE, France: FIFA’s disgraced former secretary general Jerome Valcke and Paris Saint-Germain chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi go on trial in Switzerland on Monday in the latest chapter of football’s seemingly endless corruption saga.
The two men have been indicted for alleged corruption in the attribution of football broadcasting rights — Al-Khelaifi is also the boss of beIN Media.
The hearing, which has already been delayed because of the coronavirus, is scheduled to last until September 25 at the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona. But it will open under another cloud as suspicions of collusion between the Swiss prosecution and FIFA have undermined its credibility.
Center stage is Valcke, former right-hand man of ousted FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who appears in two separate cases of television rights corruption — he faces up to five years in prison if found guilty.
The 59-year-old Frenchman stands accused of wanting to transfer the Middle East and North Africa rights for screening the 2026 and 2030 World Cups to the Qatari giant beIN Media, in exchange for “unwarranted benefits” from Al-Khelaifi.
According to the prosecution, the case relates to a meeting on October 24, 2013 at the French headquarters of beIN, when Al-Khelaifi allegedly promised to buy a villa in Sardinia for five million euros, granting its exclusive use to Valcke.
Al-Khelaifi, who has denied the charges, was then to hand the property over to the Frenchman two years later under certain conditions.
In return, the prosecution claims, Valcke committed to “do what was in his power” to ensure beIN would become the regional broadcaster for the two World Cups, something which happened on April 29, 2014, in an agreement that FIFA has never since contested.
Legally, however, it is no longer a question of “private corruption.” The prosecution had to drop that qualification because of an “amicable agreement” reached at the end of January between FIFA and Al-Khelaifi, the contents of which have not been made public.
So Valcke must now justify having “kept for himself” advantages “which should have gone to FIFA.”
An employee at the time, the obligation to return money received in the course of his duties “also applies to bribes,” according to a decision in March.
Al-Khelaifi, one of the most influential men in world football, faces the charge of “inciting Valcke to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement,” for which he could also face five years in prison.
“The major part of this file does not concern our client,” his lawyers told AFP while dismissing the charges against him as “clearly artificial.”
Al-Khelaifi denies buying the property in question or promising it to Valcke.
Valcke, who will be at the hearing, also stands accused of exploiting his position at FIFA between 2013 and 2015 to influence the awarding of media rights for Italy and Greece for various World Cup and other tournaments scheduled between 2018 and 2030 “in order to favor media partners that he preferred” in exchange for payments from Greek businessman Dinos Deris, who has also been charged.
Valcke, who allegedly stood to receive 1.25 million euros in exchange, “disputes the charges,” according to his lawyer Patrick Hunziker.
The case has been weakened by accusations of collusion born of three secret meetings in 2016 and 2017 between the current president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, and Switzerland’s former Attorney General Michael Lauber.
Both are under investigation for “obstructing criminal proceedings” — Lauber resigned from his post in July.
If the hearing runs its course, it will be the first judgment handed down in Switzerland, the seat of most international sports organizations, on the 20 or so proceedings opened in the last five years surrounding FIFA.
FIFA on trial as Valcke, Al-Khelaifi trial begins in Swiss court
https://arab.news/9a95v
FIFA on trial as Valcke, Al-Khelaifi trial begins in Swiss court
- Switzerland will judge Valcke, Al-Khelaifi in a case of TV rights on Monday
- The case is major step in the cascade of investigations on world football
End of US-Russia nuclear pact a ‘grave moment’: UN chief
- Guterres urged Washington and Moscow “to return to the negotiating table without delay and to agree upon a successor framework”
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday urged the United States and Russia to quickly sign a new nuclear deal, as the existing treaty was set to expire in a “grave moment for international peace and security.”
The New START agreement will end Thursday, formally releasing both Moscow and Washington from a raft of restrictions on their nuclear arsenals.
“For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of the Russian Federation and the United States of America,” Guterres said in a statement.
The UN secretary-general added that New START and other arms control treaties had “drastically improved the security of all peoples.”
“This dissolution of decades of achievement could not come at a worse time — the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is the highest in decades,” he said, without giving more details.
Guterres urged Washington and Moscow “to return to the negotiating table without delay and to agree upon a successor framework.”
Russia and the United States together control more than 80 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads but arms agreements have been withering away.
New START, first signed in 2010, limited each side’s nuclear arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads — a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002.
It also allowed each side to conduct on-site inspections of the other’s nuclear arsenal, although these were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic and have not resumed since.
