BeIN Media Group chief executive Nasser Al-Khelaifi said he has “nothing to hide” after being questioned for seven hours by Swiss investigators yesterday (Wednesday).
“I answered questions; I have nothing to hide,” Al-Khelaifi told reporters outside the office of the Swiss Attorney General (OAG). “I am available for the Swiss prosecutors if they want to see me again. I came here peacefully and I leave very peacefully.”
Earlier this month the OAG said it suspected that Jérôme Valcke, former secretary general of world football’s governing body Fifa, had “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”.
According to the Associated Press news agency, Andre Marty, a spokesman for the federal prosecution office, said: “I can confirm that Mr Al-Khelaifi was co-operative. Now it needs to be analysed and it needs to be seen if that is sufficient for the ongoing criminal proceeding.”
The report added that about 12 people attended parts of yesterday’s session, including a lawyer representing Fifa.
“There is huge complexity to the criminal proceeding, there are questions of translation, there are questions of the masses of information that needs to be proceeded and to give obviously to the suspected person a fair chance to answer according to his legal rights,” Marty said.