Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been linked to an investigation into a missing tranche of millions of euros from deals at the time of Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup football tournament.
French investigators are examining a series of business deals including the sale of a stake in Veolia, a waste management company, and the purchase in 2010 of the football club Paris St-Germain (PSG) by Oryx Qatar Sports Investments, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper alleges that Mr Sarkozy, who was president of France between 2007 and 2012, is being tied to the probe into claims that funds were “siphoned off” from both these deals.
The 2010 decision to award the tournament to Qatar, even though only three of the 12 stadiums proposed for use in the bid had been built, caused considerable upset at the time.
The Qatari football team is currently ranked 79th out of 211 nations in the Fifa world rankings; at the time of the 2010 decision they were 113th and have never qualified for a World Cup finals, although as hosts they will automatically be entered into the 2022 tournament.
France emerged as a key backer of the Qatar bid. Former international midfielder Michel Platini, who was then the head of Uefa, the European football association, voted for Qatar.
It has been alleged his then boss, Sepp Blatter, the disgraced former head of Fifa, persuaded other Fifa committee members to back the Gulf state’s bid.
Mr Platini was at a meeting held just nine days before the vote at the French president’s residence, the Elysee Palace in Paris, which was attended by the Qatari crown prince, now emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Mr Sarkozy.
On the agenda were a slew of trade deals, including a contract to sell Airbus planes to Qatar Airways and the prospective purchase of PSG, who are in the news this week for their €222 million (Dh1.92bn) deal to buy Brazilian forward Neymar from Barcelona.
"I knew Sarkozy wanted the people from Qatar to buy PSG," Mr Platini later told the Guardian. "I understood that Sarkozy supported the candidature of Qatar. But he never asked me, or to vote for Russia [for the 2018 World Cup]. He knows my personality. I always vote for what is good for football. Not for myself, not for France."
The allegations swirling around Veolia relate to the role played by Ghanim bin Saad Al Saad, a Qatari businessman. Qatari Diar, a company run by Mr Al Saad, took a 5 per cent stake in the French company in April 2010 and investigators are trying to trace €182m which “may have been siphoned off on the sidelines”.
As Mr Sarkozy is close to current and former top executives at Veolia, prosecutors may be attempting to prove a link between the missing money and the former president. His lawyer, Thierry Herzog, denied any wrongdoing by his client.
The Qatar bid has long been the subject of immense media interest. The Sunday Times newspaper revealed weeks ahead of the choice of Qatar and Russia for the 2018 finals that Fifa committee members were offering their votes for sale, and subsequent investigations focused on the activities of Qatar’s top football official Mohammad bin Hammam, in the successful campaign.
Du Plessis plans his retirement
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said on Friday the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in two years' time will be his last.
Du Plessis, 34, who has led his country in two World T20 campaigns, in 2014 and 2016, is keen to play a third but will then step aside.
"The T20 World Cup in 2020 is something I'm really looking forward to. I think right now that will probably be the last tournament for me," he said in Brisbane ahead of a one-off T20 against Australia on Saturday.
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
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Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
'The Batman'
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
PSA DUBAI WORLD SERIES FINALS LINE-UP
Men’s:
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Women's:
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Contracted list
Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.
TRAP
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Director: M Night Shyamalan
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Napoleon
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THE SPECS
Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Company%20Profile
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness'
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams
Rating: 3/5
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Fight card
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmamadov (TJK) v Rey Nacionales (PHI)
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROM) v Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR)
Catch 74kg
Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) v Omar Hussein (JOR)
Strawweight (Female)
Weronika Zygmunt (POL) v Seo Ye-dam (KOR)
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) v Walid Laidi (ALG)
Lightweight
Leandro Martins (BRA) v Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW)
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) v Sofiane Benchohra (ALG)
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR)
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Glen Ranillo (PHI)
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) v Aidan Aguilera (AUS)
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) Sasha Palatnikov (HKG)
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR)
