The 51-year-old was placed under formal investigation last Wednesday, in relation to a case surrounding a Paris-based media company, for alleged complicity in vote buying, interference with the freedom to vote and complicity in abuse of power, as part of a wider case involving the businessman Arnaud Lagardère.
Day-to-day matters involving companies into which QIA has made an investment are handled by its executives, not by members of QIA’s board such as Nasser al-Khelaifi … Accordingly [al-Khelaifi] was not in any position to influence, or to take any action on behalf of, QIA involving the company Lagardère.”.
Khelaifi, whose other roles include the influential position of European Club Association chairman, has been charged in connection with a complex case involving Lagardère Group, which had longstanding business interests in sport.
The PSG chairman’s proximity owed to his role on the board of Qatar Investment Authority, whose subsidiary Qatar Holding LLC was the main shareholder of Lagardère Group.
It is claimed that, five days after the Lagardère Group board held its first vote on the matter, QIA switched position and voted for governance resolutions put forward by Lagardère.
