PSG’s Nasser al-Khelaifi alleged to have offered Jérôme Valcke use of £6.2m villa

A Sardinian villa valued at €7m (£6.2m) was allegedly how Nasser al-Khelaifi, the Paris Saint-Germain chairman, bribed a top Fifa official. Italian police said on Friday they seized the luxury property they claim Khelaifi, who is also a Qatari television executive, made available to the former Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke.
Details of the alleged corruption were revealed one day after Swiss federal prosecutors oversaw evidence-gathering raids in four European countries for a widening investigation of Fifa and the 2018-22 World Cup bidding contests won by Russia and Qatar.
Criminal proceedings have been opened against Khelaifi and Valcke for suspected bribery and forgery linked to awarding broadcast rights for the next four World Cup finals tournaments. Khelaifi is chief executive of the Qatar-owned beIN Media Group, which has World Cup rights across the Middle East to 2030, including the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Italy’s financial police said in a statement that the villa in Porto Cervo was owned by an international real estate company and eight people were questioned. A police video showed a sequestration order on the villa’s fine wooden gate, palm trees in a well-kept garden and a white house with a Spanish-style roof.
Investigators believe the property was for the use of Valcke, Fifa’s secretary general from 2007 until being fired in January 2016 amid separate corruption claims. Valcke was questioned on Thursday in Switzerland, one day after he testified at the court of arbitration for sport in Lausanne to challenge his 10-year ban by Fifa for financial misconduct.
Khelaifi was not present on Thursday when the Paris offices of beIN were raided by French authorities and Swiss investigators, with beIN saying it “refutes all accusations” and “the company will fully cooperate with the authorities and is confident as to the future developments of this investigation”.
Though PSG is not implicated in the case, Fifa’s ethics committee can impose an interim ban on the club president working in football while it investigates. Fifa said on Friday no formal investigation has yet been opened against Khelaifi though ethics investigators are making preliminary inquiries.

SOURCE : GUARDIAN SPORTS
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