‘beIN Sports’ evades prosecution probes in France

CAIRO – 19 October 2017: After proof surfaced indicting beIN Sports of corruption and bribing FIFA for exclusive rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cup Championships, French prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday that the channel refused to release certain information in its headquarters in Qatar.

The Swiss general prosecution is investigating beIN Sports and its chairman and CEO, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, for their involvement in illegal negotiations with former Secretary-General of FIFA Jérôme Valcke.

The French prosecution inspected the company’s headquarters in Paris, to which a spokesman of the prosecution said the company did not facilitate the process for inspectors while they attempted to find information stored in its headquarters in Qatar.

Prosecutors in France confirmed that this refusal is unusual in such cases, and they are currently looking to expand international cooperation to enable the investigations to be conducted in a smoother manner.

Valcke was sacked in January 2016 from his position as FIFA’s secretary-general on claims of corruption. The ongoing investigations regarding beIN Sports show that the channel has allegedly bribed a businessman, whose name was not revealed, to grant it exclusive rights to show the World Cup.