Jean-Charles Brisard, a 55-year-old consultant based in Switzerland, and his former wife, Paris lawyer Géraldine Lesieur, who is 53, were indicted for "concealment of the offence of corruption of a person not exercising a public function" and "fraud", French newspaper Le Monde has reported.

They become part of a judicial investigation opened in 2019 by France National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) for "corruption, money laundering, receiving stolen goods and fraud" and which was originally launched to try to discover whether former French captain Michel Platini, then President of UEFA, had been bribed to vote for Qatar.

Until now, Brisard, also chairman of the French-based Center for Analysis of Terrorism, and Lesieur had granted the status of assisted witnesses.

Their case is linked to that of Reynald Temarii, Tahiti’s former President of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and vice-president of FIFA.

Last October, Temarii claimed he was the victim of fraud, alleging that he had received, before deciding to appeal, a confidential note from Brisard informing him that the Swiss prosecutor's office was considering prosecuting him for corruption and that the absence of an appeal could be interpreted as an admission of guilt.

According to Temarii, indicted for passive private corruption in May, these were false elements intended to push him to appeal.

"The investigating magistrates artificially arrange disparate events to write a scenario worthy of an excellent film but without any convincing element," Brisard’s lawyers Julia Minkowski and Jeanne Audéon told Le Monde.

It has been alleged that in 2010, Qatar's Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam tried to "neutralise a vote favourable to Qatar's competitors" by paying the legal costs for Temarii, who was suspended shortly before the vote in December 2010 for "disloyalty" by the FIFA Ethics Committee.

The PNF alleged that Bin Hammam had encouraged Temarii, who no longer had the right to vote, to appeal his sanction, in order to "block the appointment of a new representative" of the OFC, who may have voted for Australia or the United States,  Qatar’s rivals.

In the end, Oceania were unable to vote and Qatar were awarded the World Cup, beating the US in the fourth round with 14 votes to eight. 

Australia were eliminated in the first round after getting just one vote.

It is claimed that a total of €305,440 (£236,020/$325,725) were paid "in a hidden" way by Bin Hammam for Temarii's legal fees, through two Qatari and Lebanese companies, in two instalments, in February and April 2011.

They were allegedly paid to the Swiss account of JCB Consulting International, Brisard’s company.

Lesieur acted as the intermediary with Bin Hammam in January 2011, it is alleged.

Brisard's lawyers have strongly denied that he or Lesieur did anything wrong.

"Reynald Temarii would first be the victim of fraud, then guilty of corruption, all while refusing to give up his right of appeal without knowing the motivation of the decision that had condemned him?" Minkowski said.

"This intellectual construct does not stand up to facts or legal analysis."