accusationsRome, Oct 13 (AFP) PSG chairman and beIN Media chiefNasser al-Khelaifi faced fresh accusations today as Italianpolice said he had put a Sardinian villa at the disposal ofdisgraced ex-FIFA executive Jerome Valcke.
Italian police, who searched the villa yesterday, saidKhelaifi had used the property as "a means of corruption".
Khelaifi and Valcke, who was Sepp Blatter's right-handman at FIFA, were placed unber investigation by Swissprosecutors yesterday over the sale of World Cup media rights.
FIFA said yesterday it was also investigating Khelaifi, aQatari, over the media rights issue.
The world football body's Ethics Commission "opened apreliminary investigation into Nasser al-Khelaifi on Thursdayevening", a FIFA spokesman said.
Italian police said they had searched and seized theluxury "Villa Bianca" property in Porto Cervo, owned by aninternational real estate agency and with an estimated valueof seven million euros ($8.3 million), in a raid conducted inthe presence of a "representative of the Swiss government".
Several people "linked to various titles to the companythat owns the villa" have been questioned, police added.
Valcke's lawyer denied any wrongdoing, telling AFP hisclient had paid rent for the villa.
"There was a contract and Mr Valcke paid the rent,"Stephane Ceccaldi said.
The Swiss attorney general's office said their probe intoValcke and Khelaifi focused on media rights for upcoming WorldCups between 2018-30 and includes allegations of bribery,fraud, criminal mismanagement and forgery of a document.
Prosecutors have indicated that Khelaifi was undersuspicion only for actions taken as the head of the beINgroup, which operates on five continents.
The Qatar broadcaster has denied any wrongdoing whileconfirming French authorities had raided the company's Parisoffices at the request of Swiss authorities.
Khelaifi oversaw Paris Saint-Germain's world recordsigning of Brazilian superstar Neymar in August.
The audacious 222 million euro transfer from Barcelonawas widely seen as an example of gas-rich Qatar, which willhost the 2022 World Cup, exercising its "soft power".
The club, which was bought by Qatar Sports Investments in2011, is not implicated in the Swiss investigation. (AFP)RB.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.