Al Khelaifi faces fresh charges of corruption

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Bengaluru, October 14: Paris Saint-Germain's president Nasser Al Khelaifi is in more trouble as Italian police said he had put a Sardinian villa at the disposal of former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.

The Swiss attorney general's office had already opened criminal proceedings against Valcke and Al Khelaifi in connection to the awarding of World Cup media rights for 2026 and 2030.

In a latest blow to Al Khelaifi, who is the beIN Media Group CEO as well, Italian police, who searched the villa said the wealthy Qatari owner had used the property as "a means of corruption".

Italian police said they had searched and seized the luxury "Villa Bianca" property in Porto Cervo, owned by an international real estate agency and with an estimated value of seven million euros ( 8.3 million), in a raid conducted in the presence of a "representative of the Swiss government".

Several people "linked to various titles to the company that owns the villa" have been questioned, police added.

Prosecutors have indicated that Al Khelaifi was under suspicion only for actions taken as the head of the beIN group, which operates on five continents.

The Qatari broadcaster has denied any wrongdoing while confirming French authorities had raided the company's Paris offices at the request of Swiss authorities.

Al Khelaifi has in the limelight for a while, especially after overseeing PSG's world- record signing of Brazilian superstar Neymar from Catalan giants Barcelona in August.

The audacious 222 million euro transfer from Barcelona was widely seen as an example of gas-rich Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup, exercising its "soft power".

The club, which was bought by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, is not implicated in the Swiss investigation.

Meanwhile, the world football body's Ethics Commission has also opened a preliminary investigation against Al Khelaifi over media rights issue.

Al Khelaifi is not the first Qatari to be accused of corruption.

It may be recalled that former Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed bin Hammam was banned for life by FIFA following the corruption charges related to the controversial awarding of 2022 World Cup hosting rights to the tiny Middle East country.