Nasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of international broadcaster BeIN Media Group, has been
cleared in a corruption investigation into Qatar’s bid to 💶 stage the World Athletics
Championships in 2024.
The case was dismissed by France’s Court of Cassation, which
ruled that Al-Khelaifi had 💶 no connection to the alleged corruption.
This was in
relation to payments made by Oryx Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which is 💶 run by his
brother Khalid Al-Khelaifi, prior to the vote to select the host city for the
event.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi was 💶 suspected of having “validated” a payment ofR$3.5 million
to the late Lamine Diack, the former president of governing body World 💶 Athletics
(formerly IAAF), to facilitate the award of the World Championships to Doha.
The event
was ultimately awarded to London, however, 💶 with the following edition in 2024, being
awarded to Doha.
Al-Khelaifi, who is also president of French soccer giants Paris
Saint-Germain, 💶 had always denied any wrongdoing.
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In 2024, his lawyer Francis Szpiner described the claims against the BeIN
chairman as “totally inaccurate” and attributed them in 💶 part to “regrettable confusion
by the investigating magistrate who confused Oryx QSI, a purely private company run by
his brother, 💶 with QSI, a sovereign Qatari fund with Nasser Al-Khelaifi as
president!”
As well as Al-Khelaifi, BeIN chief executive Yousef Al-Obaidly has 💶 been
cleared of any wrongdoing. He had also strongly denied that he was involved in a
corruption investigation together with 💶 Diack.
However, Al-Obaidly is understood to have
claimed that theR$3.5 million was paid upfront to the IAAF and Dentsu, its marketing
💶 partner, as a non-refundable deposit. This deposit was lost when London, not Doha, won
the bid – a commercial risk 💶 that Al-Obaidly and Oryx were prepared to take.
Al-Obaidly
also claimed that all transactions at the time were legally and properly 💶 documented and
communicated to the IAAF.
All actions taken at the time were in full compliance with
any terms and conditions 💶 as laid down by the IAAF and its representatives and agents
(Dentsu, the Japanese advertising giant that acts for the 💶 IAAF, and Papa Massata Diack,
the son of Lamine Diack who was a marketing consultant to the IAAF at the 💶 time).
Diack
senior, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 88, had been found guilty of corruption
in 2024 💶 and charged with covering up positive doping tests of Russian athletes in
return for money. Following a trial in Paris, 💶 he was sentenced to four years in prison,
two of them suspended, although he was never jailed.
Following the dismissal of 💶 the
case by the French court, Szpiner and Renaud Semerdjian, who was also representing
Al-Khelaïfi said: “We take note with 💶 satisfaction the ruling of the Court of Causation
in France, which dismisses the IAAF-related procedure against Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and
Yousef 💶 Al-Obaidly in its entirety.
“For years, this case evidentially had zero standing
and completely flawed merits. The rule of law has 💶 prevailed, with the matter fully and
finally closed with absolutely no case to answer.”
Image: Aurelien Meunier/Getty
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