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| Nasser Al-Khelaifi |
A French judge has charged the president of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) football club, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, with corruption over Qatar’s bid to host the world athletics championships.
Judicial sources quoted by AFP news agency said the case focused on bidding for this year’s championships in Doha.
Mr Khelaifi, who is also the boss of Qatari TV channel BeIn Sports, has been under investigation since March.
Two payments totalling $3.5m (ยฃ2.8m), made in 2011, are under scrutiny.
Qatar was in the bidding process to host the championships in 2017 – won by London – and 2019, which it won.
It is alleged that the payments were made by Oryx Qatar Sports Investment – a firm jointly owned by Nasser Al-Khelaifi and his brother Khalid – to a firm run by the son of Lamine Diack, ex-president of the IAAF, the world athletics governing body.
Another BeIn Sports executive, Yousef Al-Obaidly, is also under investigation in France over the awarding of the 2019 championships to Qatar. He is a PSG board member.
PSG won the French top league (Ligue 1) this season.
The French term “mis en examen” – usually rendered as “charged” in English – does not automatically trigger a trial, but means that prosecutors strongly suspect wrongdoing.
