Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and FIFA’s former secretary general Jerome Valcke will be tried in this month in a corruption case linked to the attribution of broadcasting rights.
The two will be tried in the southeastern Swiss city of Bellinzona along with a third, unnamed man, for criminal mismanagement, incitement to criminal mismanagement, falsifying documents and corruption, the federal criminal court said.
Al-Khelaifi, who is also the boss of Qatari television channel BeIN Sports, is suspected of giving inappropriate gifts to Valcke in order to secure broadcasting rights to prestigious events, including the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.
In exchange Valcke, formerly ex-FIFA boss Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man, gained, among other things, rent-free access to a luxury property on the Italian island of Sardinia.
After the date was set on Tuesday, Al-Khelaifi’s lawyers issued a statement insisting the case was “completely unfounded,” and insisted the charge against their client was “manifestly artificial.”
They also indicated that they had requested the recusal of prosecutors in the case and had filed a criminal complaint related to leaks, “making it uncertain whether the case will proceed at all.”
The indictment, which was published in February, accused the third man, described as “a businessman in the sports rights sector,” of bribery over a 1.25-million-euro ($1.35 million) payment to Valcke’s company Sportunited LLC.
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