Former Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke has insisted that he did not engage in an “exchange” with beIN Media Group chief executive Nasser Al-Khelaifi after the office of the Swiss Attorney General (OAG) opened a criminal proceeding against the duo.
The OAG said last week that it suspected Valcke to have “accepted undue advantages from a businessman in the sports rights sector in connection with the award of media rights for certain countries at the Fifa World Cups in 2018, 2022, 2026 and 2030 and from Nasser Al-Khelaifi in connection with the award of media rights for certain countries at the Fifa World Cups in 2026 and 2030.”
Last Thursday, Valcke was interviewed and properties in France, Greece, Italy and Spain were searched.
“I just want to say that it's not true,” Valcke told French daily newspaper L’Equipe, according to the Reuters news agency. “I have never done that. I have never received anything in exchange for anything. I refute the accusations against me or Nasser. I have received nothing from Nasser, I can assure you. There was never any exchange between Nasser and I. Never.”
Meanwhile a beIN spokesperson denied any claims of wrongdoing regarding a rights deal reportedly agreed by the media company for the 2026 and 2030 World Cup rights in the Middle East and North Africa region. In an interview with the AFP news agency, the spokesperson added that the agreement was “financially advantageous” for Fifa.
Police in Italy said that a villa in Sardinia had been seized following allegations that the property was made available to Valcke by Al-Khelaifi.
Fifa, football's global governing body, said on Friday that its ethics commission had "opened a preliminary investigation into Nasser Al-Khelaifi."