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Qatar-gate/ Sarkozy's "business" with planes and rockets with the Crown Prince and the 'yes' for the World Cup

2022-12-18 09:31:36Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Qatar-gate/ Sarkozy's "business" with planes and rockets with the

Respect for France, if they win the World Cup again. Respect for Argentina if they bring the Cup to Buenos Aires.

And honor to Mbappe and Messi, champions and opponents, but teammates at Paris Saint-Germain, the Qatari-owned club.

In short, as they say, no matter how it goes, it will be a success. Clearly in the sports plan, a little less in the political and financial one.

In Qatar's World Cup, apart from well-known complaints about the conditions of migrant workers employed in the construction of stadiums and infrastructure, judicial investigations into the circumstances in which the Emirate won the bid have been prolonged for some time.

The change with the history of bribery in the European Parliament can result in the method, in the way of understanding lobbying, power relations, strategic interests of a country.

Many clues lead to Paris, even to the gilded halls of the Elysee Palace.

In France, Qatar has laid the foundations for a wide penetration into the world of finance, business, real estate and hospitality, military contracts and sports sectors.

And he won the World Cup candidacy thanks to his relationships with former president Nicolas Sarkozy, several figures close to the Elysee and former French soccer star Michel Platini.

The newspaper "Le Monde" recalls that the foundation stone for the candidacy was metaphorically thrown by Sarkozy in a speech in Doha in 2010, held on the occasion of the Sports Forum, organized by businessman Richard Attias, the partner of the president's ex-wife. Cecilia.

Nine years later, an investigation into corruption and money laundering was opened under the uneditable title of "state lobbying."

Everything would arise from an episode after the conference, a lunch at the Elysee in which Sarkozy, Platini, the Crown Prince of Qatar, Al Thani, his prime minister, and Claude Géant, the General Secretary of the presidency, later indicted for corruption for other investigations, sit around the table.

According to "Le Monde", there is evidence that Sarkozy was involved in promoting the victory of Qatar for the organization of the World Cup.

Six months after that lunch, Qatar buys Paris Saint-Germain, enters the capital of the Lagardère group and supports the launch of the sports television channel BeinSports.

Qatar also buys 80 Airbus A350 jets, Rafale jets, Tiger helicopters, an Aster 30 long-range missile defense system.

Michel Platini, the head of UEFA, an old friend of Sarkozy, was always in favor of the candidacy of the United States of America.

But then he changed his mind. Platini, assures "Le Monde", "made the decision to vote for Qatar long before the lunch at the Elysée".

But Sepp Blatter, FIFA president from 1998 to 2015, recalled the importance of the Elysée lunch.

"Platin told me that Sarkozy had recommended him to vote for Qatar," he declared in November 2021.

The contents of the famous lunch at the Elysee are locked in state archives and protected by secrecy until at least 2038.

Even the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (Cada), has issued a negative opinion at the beginning of January 2021, citing as a reason "the protection of the fundamental interests of the state in its foreign policy or in the simple conduct of its foreign relations ".

On 2 December 2010, the FIFA Executive Committee voted, to everyone's surprise, in favor of the Emirate as the host country for the 2022 World Cup.

The American delegation, led by former President Bill Clinton, was furious. "I voted for Qatar," said Platini, "in the name of developing football in a region that has never had a World Cup."

As "Le Monde" reports, Sébastien Bazin, CEO of the hotel group "Accor" and then the European representative of "Colony Capital", wanted to get rid of PSG, a club with huge debts, whose reputation was damaged. from the fights between the ultras.

And he wanted to sell it in Qatar. To do this, he relied on the goodwill of his old friend Nicolas Sarkozy.

Was the acquisition of PSG a condition of France's support for the Qatari bid? As revealed by "Mediapart", Sébastien Bazin, who was heard in the spring of 2022 by the investigating judges as a "free defendant", assured in an SMS message that this was feasible.

On 10 December 2010, a note from Olivier Buquen, head of the inter-ministerial delegation for economic intelligence, illustrated the many advantages that would come from setting the tour in the Emirates.

Everything still had to be done in Qatar: stadiums, hotels, transport, etc. "In addition to the 55 billion dollars of infrastructure projects already under development, 45 billion dollars would be allocated in the form of PPPs (Public-Private Partnerships)," says the note, which proposes "raising the awareness of French companies potentially interested in these markets and establish support mechanisms for strategic contracts".

"French military and diplomatic interests, - writes the prestigious "Le Monde", - seem to have influenced in favor of Qatar's candidacy".

Bazin told "Le Monde" that the negotiations for PSG were "without any consideration or condition other than the financial aspect".

Laurent Platini, the champion's son, was hired "after a series of interviews" in December 2011 as a "consultant" for Pilatus Sport Mgmt, a holding company owned by the Qatari fund QSI, which manages the Burrda Sport equipment brand. .

Michel Platini told Le Monde: “My son makes his own decisions about his professional life. He doesn't need me, he never asked me for anything. There was no direct or indirect...lateral, vertical or spatial counterpart to my vote. The FBI, Swiss and French justice have investigated and are still investigating: they have found nothing. They can search, do their work, they will not find anything, because I am not corrupt".

The emirate has multiplied its support for Nicolas Sarkozy's people. As revealed by "Mediapart", Qatar will accept a request from Claude Géant from 2011, who wants the Emirate to offer a contract to "Znz Group", the company of the communicator François de La Brosse, who worked on the campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, then as a counselor at Elysse.

Huge shadows of suspicion of corruption have been cast over Qatar as the winner and host country of the 2022 World Cup
. Thus, 600,000 euros would have been paid by Qatar to De La Brosse since September 2011, out of more than 2 million euros expected.

De La Brosse said this "first payment corresponded to the web design and IT development of the 'I love Qatar' platform, which was to promote the merits of tourism in the Emirates, as well as the cost of sending a film crew and set-up of "thirty four-minute clips".

This chapter of history was added to another judicial investigation, that of suspicions about the financing of Sarkozy's electoral campaign from Libya, in 2007. The Emirate has also supported other members of Sarkozy's inner circle.

 In March 2012, a private law foundation, the International Center for Sports Safety (ICSS) subsidized, for €150,000 a year, a chair dedicated to "ethics and safety in sport" at the Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne University, where he teaches Sophie Dion, head of the master's, sports adviser to former president Sarkozy and present at the famous lunch at the Elysee.

Ms Dion, former vice-president of the France-Qatar friendship group in the National Assembly during her term as deputy for Haute-Savoie (2012-2017), however said she had received "only €13,000" as part of this "partnership " between Paris-I and ICSS.

After his defeat in 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy practically retired from politics and took several vacations in Qatar before embarking on a career as an orator, as revealed by "Le Canard Enchaîné" in October 2012.

According to "Libération" in 2014, based on documents from the investigation, Sarkozy intended to raise funds to feed an investment fund.

In 2012, Qatar bailed out another Sarkozy friend, Arnaud Lagardère, who was struggling to run his own company.

"Qatar Holding" has bought 12.8% of Lagardère's capital. After a failed attempt to return to politics in 2016, Sarkozy joined the board of directors of the Accor group in 2017, as chairman of the "international strategy committee".

Sarkozy, who will also join the board of directors of the Lagardère group in 2020, arrives at the right time for the hotel group: Accor, which has already been a sponsor of PSG's shirts since 2019, will also benefit from other spin-offs from the World Cup, including a partnership to manage fan hospitality in a network of 66,000 rooms.

Interviewed by the "Journal de Dimanche", Sarkozy condemned the boycott of the contest by several French municipalities, which decided not to organize public maxi-screens, and criticized in particular his successor, the socialist François Hollande, and the mayor of Paris, Anna Hidalgo.

"Football is a universal sport and every region of the world should be able to organize an international competition. Football does not belong only to Westerners. It is a sport that brings people together. All the countries that have organized major international events have been the subject of many controversies: China, Russia, Brazil and now Qatar. We should give each of these host countries a chance to demonstrate their knowledge and wait to see how these events play out before we judge them."

"I was not the one who sold 'Rafaele'. My successor must have judged it a correct decision. As for the boycott, it seems to me that the City of Paris is very happy that the Qatari are the owners and financiers of the club in the capital. This controversy is quite hypocritical", - declared the former president of France.


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