UEFA helped Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City get around their own Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, according to a Football Leaks investigation published on Friday.
According to the investigation of "more than 70 million documents" analysed "over eight months by 80 journalists" from members of European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), UEFA "knowingly helped the clubs to cover up their own irregularities for 'political reasons'" under the leadership of Michel Platini and Gianni Infantino.
Both clubs, owned and bankrolled by wealth from Qatar and Abu Dhabi respectively, have avoided the most severe FFP punishment of being excluded from the UEFA Champions League.
Football Leaks claims that between them Qatar and Abu Dhabi have injected some 4.5 billion euros ($5.1 billion) over the last seven years to increase the budgets of the clubs they own.
Of that figure, 2.7 billion euros has been invested in City via their Abu-Dhabi owners and from allegedly "overestimated" sponsorship deals.
Football Leaks also points the finger at PSG's five-year agreement with the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), valued at 1.075 billion euros, or 215 million euros a year.
That is despite the investigation claiming that "two independent auditors assigned by UEFA valued the contract at... 123,000 euros per year for one, and 2.8 million euros a year for the other".
UEFA rules say clubs cannot spend more than they earn in any given season and deficits must fall within a 30 million-euro limit over three seasons.
Both PSG and City were fined 60 million euros by UEFA in May 2014, but both were told they would get 40 million euros back if they stuck to the terms of their settlement.
French investigative website Mediapart claims Infantino -- the current FIFA president who was then UEFA's general secretary -- "directly negotiated an agreement with Manchester City", bypassing the Financial Control Panel of European football's governing body. His proposal was for a "fine of 20 million euros instead of 60."
Reputedly included in copy in emails sent by Infantino to City's chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak was former French president and PSG fan Nicolas Sarkozy, who also reputedly helped City's Abu Dhabi owners in their attempts to get around FFP rules.
Sarkozy's press officer responded to Mediapart by saying that "as a lawyer, Nicolas Sarkozy provided no counsel to the people you mention".
Asked for a reaction by Mediapart, City said "the attempt to damage the reputation of the club is organised and clear."
PSG have been the subject of another UEFA investigation since they signed Neymar from Barcelona for a world-record 222 million euros ($264 million) in August 2017.
In late September UEFA said it had referred the accusations against the Paris club to its financial unit "for further investigation". PSG's case, though, is complicated by their sponsorship deals with the Qatar National Bank as well as the QTA.
UEFA indicated that the aim of FFP rules was "to help clubs become viable financially...and to punish them only as a last resort."
Infantino meanwhile defended himself by saying it was possible for the independent body in charge of investigating FFP breaches to be helped by "the administration of UEFA, which of course includes the secretary general".
Infantino is now at the head of FIFA, and Football Leaks also shone a light on his relationship with a Swiss prosecutor called Rinaldo Arnold.
The investigation said "invitations" were given to Arnold for World Cup and Champions League matches and a FIFA Congress in 2016, while Infantino was provided with details of ongoing investigations.
"According to FIFA's internal directives and regulations, the President and the Secretary General are entitled to invite a number of guests to FIFA tournaments and events," the world football's governing body told AFP.
MAN CITY'S THREATS TO UEFA REVEALED IN LEAKED DOCUMENTS
Manchester City threatened to destroy UEFA with legal action when European soccer's governing body pursued punishment against the Abu Dhabi-owned club for overspending on players and hiding costs, according to documents cited by a group of media outlets on Friday.
During the 2014 investigation, publicly called independent, City chief executive Ferran Soriano secretly discussed the case in 2014 with then UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, who became FIFA president two years later, the leaked documents showed.
City settled with UEFA to avoid being banned from the exclusive and lucrative Champions League for violating Financial Fair Play rules. It accepted a fine of 60 million euros (then $82 million) spread over three years and agreed to a limit to their top team of 21 instead of 25 senior players.
But City never paid the full fine. It was forced to forfeit only 20 million euros of prize money in 2017.
UEFA's auditors found City inflated the value of sponsorship deals with firms related to the team's owners from Abu Dhabi, which bought the club in 2008 using the sovereign wealth of Sheikh Mansour. New ownership turned City into a power that has challenged the long-standing supremacy of neighbor Manchester United.
An internal email sent by City lawyer Simon Cliff recalled an exchange between Al Mubarak and Infantino, the documents showed.
"Khaldoon said he would rather spend 30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next 10 years," Cliff wrote, adding that this was a chance "to avoid the destruction of their rules and organization."
Among other internal correspondence from City published by Spiegel, Cliff said "UEFA doesn't respond to anything other than aggression" and a lawsuit against auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers "could destroy the entire organization within weeks."
"If PWC was under threat, you could then imagine them suing UEFA for damages and, if they collapsed, all their creditors suing UEFA too," Cliff wrote.
City eventually signed the settlement agreement in May 2014, the day UEFA's lead investigator died. Informed of the former Belgian prime minister's death, Cliff told a colleague "1 down, 6 to go."
Defending the deal struck with City, UEFA said "in cases where clubs overspend and balance their books only thanks to money injections, a settlement agreement has always been the preferred solution."
