A high court in Ghana has discharged Kwesi Nyantekyi, the former president of the country’s football association (GFA), after a complex five-year legal battle.

He was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and corruption after being filmed taking money from a reporter during a sting investigation in 2018.

Alongside his Ghana Football Association role, Nyantekyi served as a vice-president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and was also a member of the Fifa council.

He was given a life ban by football’s world governing body for breaking bribery and corruption rules, but that sanction was later reduced to 15 years on appeal.

Nyantekyi pleaded not guilty to the charges that arose from the investigation, which sought to expose corruption in African football and was reported by BBC Africa Eye.

The case against him collapsed after Ghanaian state prosecutors failed to present any of their five potential witnesses, including undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

Anas had wanted to testify wearing a mask to protect his anonymity and because of security concerns.

Resignation after Number 12 documentary

Nyantakyi’s case stemmed from an investigative documentary titled ‘Number 12’.

Secretly recorded footage showed him receiving $65,000 (£51,500) cash from an undercover reporter pretending to be a businessman keen to invest in Ghanaian football.

He denied any wrongdoing, claiming the footage was doctored to incriminate him and that he had received a lesser amount in reimbursement of travel expenses.

Nyantakyi dismissed the investigation as “shoddy work with cut and paste” but later resigned from his positions at the GFA, Caf and Fifa before the latter banned him in October 2018.

He was the most prominent person among more than 100 football officials – most of them West African referees – who received cash during the Number 12 investigation.

Fifa rules forbid officials from receiving cash gifts.

Despite the documentary’s findings, the prosecution’s inability to secure testimony from their witnesses led to the decision of the high court in Accra to discharge Nyantakyi.

Delays after mask wrangle and murder

One major issue in the case was how Anas would appear in court as a witness.

In May 2023 an Accra High Court ruled that the undercover reporter could take to the stand wearing his trademark bead mask.

However, a Court of Appeal subsequently overturned that decision, insisting Anas should testify without the mask.

On Thursday, state prosecutors submitted a request for a one-month adjournment to work out their next move, but that was denied.

The five-year-long case was also delayed by the murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale, an investigative journalist involved in the Number 12 documentary and a potential witness, by unidentified gunmen in January 2019.

Another charge against Nyantakye, for fraudulently using the name of former Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo, has also been dropped.

-BBC

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The Republic of Congo said on Monday that it will hold discussions with world’s football governing body FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to lift sanctions that bar its federation from international competitions.

FIFA, in consultation with Africa’s football governing body, on Friday suspended Congo due to third-party interference in the central African nation’s football affairs, which violates its obligations under FIFA’s rules. Congo denies this.

FIFA said the suspension would only be lifted if a number of conditions were met, including the return of full control of the federation’s headquarters and other facilities to the national football federation FECOFOOT.

Congo Sports Minister Hugues Ngouelondele told a press conference that authorities will “very quickly get in touch with the leaders of CAF and FIFA to discuss the lifting of the sanction”.

He added that while the government seeks a compromise, it would not compromise its principles.

The suspension came in the wake of internal disputes within Congo’s national football federation.

The performance of the country’s national football has been underwhelming in recent years, the minister said. It has failed to secure a place in the AFCON continental tournament since their last appearance in 2015.

Despite the troubles facing Congolese football, he dismissed claims of government interference in the federation’s matters. He also stressed that such challenges are not exclusive to Congo.

-Reuters

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FIFA has suspended the Congolese Football Federation (FECOFOOT) this Thursday. The suspension is till further notice. FIFA has already notified all its member associations

FIFA Statutes’ article 16 was cited as the reason. Congo’s team, known as the Red Devils are in the same World Cup qualifying group as Morocco, Tanzania, Zambia, Niger Republic and Eritrea.

Their next match is supposed to be an away duel with Tanzania. The match may not hold except the suspension is lifted before then. They lost their Group E World Cup qualifying match 6-0 at home to Morocco last June.

FECOFOOT loses all its membership rights, as defined in Article 13 of the statutes of the world body, with immediate effect and until further notice.

FECOFOOT representative teams and affiliated clubs can no longer take part in international competitions while the suspension is in force.

They are not qualified for the 2025 Afcon in Morocco and no Congolese club is involved in the quarter-finals of the CAF inter-club competitions this season.

According to FIFA, the decision was taken in consultation with CAF after two FIFA/CAF missions were dispatched to Brazzaville.

The lifting of the suspension will be subject to the following conditions:

• Returning full control of the FECOFOOT headquarters, the Ignié Technical Centre and the association’s other facilities to FECOFOOT;
• Desisting from any efforts to change the signatories of the FECOFOOT bank accounts and/or giving full control back to the signatories recognised by FIFA and CAF;
• Declaring invalid or setting aside any decisions, legal or otherwise, authorising the ad hoc committee to exercise any control or have any authority over FECOFOOT; and
• Ensuring full cooperation to allow FECOFOOT to manage its affairs without undue influence from third parties.
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