Beyond the Champions Trophy, the news of the first days of 2024 for PSG was marked on an extra-sporting level by new revelations made by several media (Libération, L’Équipe, Mediapart, AFP) as to to the multiple aspects of the affair of the alleged “barbouzeries” around PSG.
Where do the documents that provide these new elements come from?
Three French media, Mediapart (January 1st Then January 4), The Team et Release have published, in recent days, long articles which are generally part of the sprawling investigation into the alleged “barbouzeries” at PSG, within the framework of which President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was targeted by a search on July 5 and its former communications director Jean-Martial Ribes indicted on December 1, notably for corruption and active influence peddling.
The recent revelations from Mediapart on the police operation targeting the president of PSG come from the “report” of the said operation. On Neymar’s transfer, the media is based on “unpublished documents from Football Leaks, obtained by Der Spiegel, German newspaper, and shared with the EIC (European Investigative Collaborations)” as well as, like L’Équipe and Libération, on a report from the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) following the inspection of Jean-Martial Ribes’ telephone.
Why and how would PSG have obtained a tax “deal” on the transfer of Neymar?
The main information highlighted by these three media concerning the transfer of Neymar is an arrangement which would have been agreed with the executive power to reduce the tax bill for the transfer of the Brazilian from Barcelona to PSG in the summer of 2017. Of the 222 million euros of the transfer amount, it was expected that PSG would be required to pay a certain number of taxes by the tax administration and the Union for the Recovery of Social Security Contributions and Family Allowances (Urssaf).
Through a former LREM deputy and vice-president of the National Assembly, Hugues Renson, Jean-Martial Ribes would have requested Gérald Darmanin, then Minister of Action and Public Accounts, in order to work on a solution so that PSG pays nothing more than the transfer price. “If it doesn’t pass, it will have an impact on a lot of things,” Ribes wrote in a message. This is the sporting deal of the century, it must not be killed by the administration. » According to the Mediapart story, “Hugues Renson specifies that the minister’s superiors, that is to say the president and his team, are also involved. »
Still according to the investigation, a meeting took place on July 25, 2017 in Bercy, in the presence of Jean-Claude Blanc, to arbitrate this matter and the next day, PSG received “two tax rulings sent by the tax authorities and Urssaf d ‘Île-de-France, who announce to the club that there will be neither tax nor social security contributions to pay regarding Neymar’s release clause,’ writes Mediapart.
According to a source close to the negotiations at AFP, there is “nothing wrong with a company approaching a government to discuss the tax treatment of a major transaction”.
Who is Hugues Renson, the former deputy singled out?
In these investigations and in the police report cited in particular by “Libération” and “L’Équipe”, one name comes up insistently: that of Hugues Renson, former LREM deputy for the 13th constituency of Paris and vice-president of the National Assembly (2017-2022), now at EDF.
Renson, as he has never hidden it, is a very big fan of PSG and is presented as close to Jean-Martial Ribes. The various investigations paint the portrait of a man very close to the capital club, within which he would have aspired to be hired. In the summer of 2017, it was Renson that Ribes solicited, during a meeting in a large Parisian hotel in the presence of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, to bring to the attention of Gérald Darmanin the tax problem that therefore wanted settle PSG.
The exchanges described between Renson and Ribes are numerous and go beyond the sole transfer of Neymar. They are presented as an exchange of good practices in which Renson had notably received multiple invitations to the Parc des Princes. We also learn that “his children are escort kids” for a match (they accompany the players as they enter the field) and that “his son receives a signed photo of Neymar for his birthday”. Asked by AFP, neither Mr. Renson, nor the PSG, nor the cabinet of Mr. Darmanin nor that of the current Minister of Public Accounts, Thomas Cazenave, reacted.
What are the new revelations about the search targeting Nasser Al-Khelaïfi in July?
As of July 5, Mediapart revealed that Nasser Al-Khelaïfi had been targeted by a search upon the arrival of his plane in Paris, when he was to go to the press conference presenting the new PSG coach Luis Enrique. This event, scheduled for 2 p.m., started almost three hours late.
The unfolding of this strange afternoon is recounted by Mediapart which cites the report of the police operation of July 5. It is said that Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was greeted when his plane landed at Le Bourget by “a commissioner and three officers from the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime, the service responsible for investigating the detention of Tayeb Benabderrahmane » (one of those indicted in the affair of the barbouzeries around PSG, for multiple offenses – corruption, influence peddling, forgery and use of forgery, concealment and complicity in fraudulent access in a system of automated data processing, etc.).
According to the account given of the events, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi locked himself in his plane for more than an hour and, when he got out, first categorically refused to give his phone to the officers, before finally cooperate. His home was also searched in his absence. During this hour of beating, writes Mediapart, “the secretary of the Qatari embassy vehemently calls on the police, affirming that the operation is illegal because of the diplomatic status of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi”.
In the report, a police officer writes: “He threatens us with the wrath of our supervisory minister (Gérald Darmanin), whom he would have had notified through the Minister of the Interior of his country and who would keep himself informed in direct from the evolution of the situation. » “Nasser Al-Khelaïfi’s entourage claims that he cooperated with the authorities, that no one threatened the police,” the article specifies.
