Al-Khelaifi, Valcke in Swiss court for FIFA corruption trial

By: The Associated Press Posted: 5:44 AM CDT Monday, Sep. 14, 2020 Last Modified: 3:18 PM CDT Monday, Sep. 14, 2020

BELLINZONA, Switzerland - Qatari soccer executive Nasser al-Khelaifi and former FIFA official Jérôme Valcke spent their first day at federal criminal court in Switzerland on Monday for a corruption trial expected to last two weeks.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/09/2020 (2213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BELLINZONA, Switzerland – Qatari soccer executive Nasser al-Khelaifi and former FIFA official Jérôme Valcke spent their first day at federal criminal court in Switzerland on Monday for a corruption trial expected to last two weeks.

Al-Khelaifi, the president of Paris Saint-Germain and chairman of Doha-based broadcaster beIN Media Group, and Valcke came to court separately and did speak publicly.

A third defendant, Greek marketing agency executive Dinos Deris, whose name is also spelled Konstantinos Nteris, did not attend the opening of the trial citing medical reasons.

Former Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke, right, and his lawyers arrive at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland, Monday, September 14, 2020. Valcke is accused of qualified disloyalty and incitement, falsification of documents and passive bribery. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland opened the proceedings in March 2017. (Francesa Agosta/Keystone/Ti-Press via AP)

The trial opened with procedural arguments and the panel of three federal judges decided to go ahead with Deris absent. He and Valcke face the most serious charge of bribery.

Defence lawyers are expected to raise more procedural issues on Tuesday.

All three defendants deny wrongdoing. A verdict is expected in late October.

Al-Khelaifi faces a lesser charge of inciting Valcke when he was FIFA secretary general to commit “aggravated criminal mismanagement.”

During a formal investigation since 2017, Swiss prosecutors questioned al-Khelaifi on suspicion of bribing Valcke with use of a luxury villa in Sardinia in 2014 and 2015.

Around that time, FIFA renewed beIN’s World Cup broadcast rights in the Middle East and north Africa for the 2026 and 2030 tournaments without rival bids. The deal was judged within the industry as good for FIFA with beIN paying above the then-market value.

FIFA withdrew its criminal complaint of possible bribery when it reached a financial settlement with al-Khelaifi before prosecutors published indictments in February.

The bribery charges for Valcke and Deris are a separate matter not involving beIN or al-Khelaifi.

Former Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke, right, and his lawyer Patrick Hunziker arrive at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland, Monday, September 14, 2020. Valcke is accused of qualified disloyalty and incitement, falsification of documents and passive bribery. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland opened the proceedings in March 2017. (Francesa Agosta/Keystone/Ti-Press via AP)

Prosecutors say Valcke took three kickbacks totalling 1.25 million euros ($1.48 million) to steer World Cup rights toward favoured broadcasters in Italy and Greece. He is also charged with falsifying documents by booking the payments to his private company as loans.

Valcke was banned from working in soccer by the FIFA ethics committee in 2016 for conduct separate from the charges he now faces.

Valcke, then secretary general, was FIFA’s point man for the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. He was the top FIFA official at the World Cup draw in December 2014 in Gatineau, Que., and was the chief spokesman for soccer’s world governing body on the legal challenge to the use of artificial turf at the tournament.

But he skipped the opening news conference of the tournament due to the ongoing FIFA scandal that later enveloped him.

Al-Khelaifi, a minister in Qatar’s government, has become more influential in world soccer since the Swiss criminal proceeding against him was revealed three years ago.

He is now a member of the UEFA executive committee, which will meet next week in Budapest, Hungary, amid the trial.

More procedural arguments are due on Tuesday about the integrity of the prosecution office and its case.

Since the indictments were published, Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber was disciplined then resigned after an internal investigation into undeclared meetings he had with current FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Nasser al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. FIFA would help fund a global agency to tackle corruption in sport, its president Gianni Infantino said Monday. Infantino spoke at a United Nations event in Austria as the corruption trial was opening in Switzerland as part of a long-running investigation of soccer officials, including Qatari soccer and television executive Nasser al-Khelaifi and former FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke. (Francesa Agosta/Keystone via AP)

A special prosecutor was appointed in June and opened a criminal proceeding against Infantino for suspected misconduct including incitement to abuse of public office. The FIFA leader has called the investigation absurd.

Any delay to the trial because of the ongoing Lauber-Infantino process could bring into play a statute of limitation on some evidence that times out in November.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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