PSG owner charged over IAAF World Champs bidding corruption

A French judge has charged the president of Paris St Germain Football Club, Nasser al-Khelaifi, with corruption over Qatari bids to host the IAAF World Athletics Championships. Judicial sources quoted by AFP News agency said the case focused on the championships held in 2017 and 2019. Khelaifi, who is also the boss of Qatari TV channel Bein Sports, has been under investigation since March.

Two payments totalling U.S. $3.5 million made in 2011 are under scrutiny. London won the bidding to host the championships in 2017, but Qatar is hosting this year's championships in September-October. It’s alleged that the payments were made by Oryx Qatar Sports Investment, a firm jointly owned by Khelaifi and his brother Khalid  to a firm run by the son of Lamine Diack, ex-president of the IAAF.

Eighty five year old Diack, was charged with corruption in March in relation to the case, while an arrest warrant has been issued for his Senegal-based son, Papa Massata Diack. In a statement al Khelaifi's lawyers said the allegations were inaccurate and that he had not validated any payment of any kind whatsoever in relation to the allegations.