The World Trade Organization dealt a huge blow on the chances of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund completing a £300 million takeover of Newcastle United after ruling that the Kingdom was behind pirate satellite TV beoutQ.
KSA has since started a crackdown on piracy and Saudi’s Minister of Commerce Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi has sent a letter to UK politicians & sports National Governing Body claiming complete vindication at the WTO.
The Chairman of the Board of the General Authority of Foreign Trade claims Qatar’s beIN Sports only had to email them to raise an intellectual property issue in Saudi Arabia.
According to The Athletic’s Football news and investigations reporter Matt Slater, the letter of the senior member of Public Investment Fund has not gone down well with the Premier League, but he still expects the Newcastle takeover to happen.
…& here is a letter sent from Saudi’s minister of commerce (senior member of PIF) to UK politicians & sports NGBs claiming complete vindication at the WTO & saying if you had a concern about piracy you only had to email us. This has not gone down well at the PL. pic.twitter.com/9jYR8UVCZk
— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) June 30, 2020
I still think it will happen but the Saudis have done their best to %$&* it up
— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) June 30, 2020
Don’t know…I heard it was very close on Friday. Saudi’s response to the WTO report hasn’t helped, though.
— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) June 30, 2020
Saudi earlier denied having anything to do with beoutQ and they have now possibly angered the Premier League with their latest letter.
The Kingdom blocked nine attempts by the EPL to take down the pirate TV in the past, and an email definitely wouldn’t have done the trick as they claimed.
