GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland’s supreme court upheld the acquittal of Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser al-Khelaïfi in the final appeals stage of a case that alleged wrongdoing linked to former FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke and the awarding of World Cup television rights.
In a separate case, Valcke’s conviction of bribery and forgery in relation to World Cup media rights in Italy and Greece was also upheld.
For Al-Khelaïfi, it is his third acquittal in five years on charges related to allegedly allowing Valcke to use a villa in Italy for free from 2013-15. The ruling was described by his lawyers as “a complete vindication.”
“From the outset, this has manifestly been a ‘trophy-hunting’ prosecution by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland — but today, that pursuit is over,” lawyer Marc Bonnant said in a statement.
Prosecutors had tried to link the home in Sardinia, bought by a Qatari company in 2013, to Al-Khelaïfi-led broadcaster beIN Media Group getting a renewed World Cup rights deal from FIFA in a $480 million deal.
But three Swiss federal courts — at criminal, appeals and supreme level — have now ruled there was no wrongdoing in that deal. In the Al-Khelaïfi case, Valcke was also acquitted for a third time on charges of criminal mismanagement harming FIFA, for which prosecutors had sought a prison term of 35 months.
“The Swiss Federal Supreme Court once again confirms that Jérôme Valcke did not cause any damage to FIFA and that his behavior had no negative influence on the very profitable price of the disputed contracts,” his legal firm in Geneva, RVMH, said in a statement.
But Valcke — who was removed from his FIFA post in 2015 and later banned from soccer over wide-ranging misconduct — was convicted again on separate charges not involving Al-Khelaïfi. Those related to forgery and kickbacks in negotiations for World Cup broadcast rights in Italy and Greece.
A third defendant, Greek marketing executive Dinos Deris, had his conviction for active corruption upheld.
The supreme court also upheld the suspended sentences for Valcke and Deris of 11 and 10 months, respectively.
The court combined the appeals brought by the federal prosecution office, and by Valcke and Deris, in one set of rulings. They asked a lower court to look again at financial penalties in the case.
The investigation was opened in 2017, first heard at the federal criminal court in 2020, then retrials at the federal appeals court were held in 2022.
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