Thursday, March 28, 2024
spot_img
spot_img
spot_img
spot_img

CAF President Ahmed banned for five years

Share

The head of African football, Ahmad Ahmad, has been banned from football for five years by Fifa following an ethics investigation by world football’s governing body.
Ahmad Ahmad, from Madagascar, was found guilty of breaching his duty of loyalty, offering and accepting gifts and other benefits, misappropriation of funds and of abusing his position by the adjudicatory chamber of Fifa’s independent ethics committee. In addition to the ban, he was fined 200,000 Swiss francs (£164,000).
Ahmad was elected CAF president in March 2017, and last month submitted his candidacy to serve a second term in office, with elections due to take place next year.
Fifa had “sanctioned him with a ban from all football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level for five years,” it said.
Former CAF general secretary Amr Fahmy, who died this year from cancer, had been dismissed after he made corruption allegations against Ahmad last year in a document sent to Fifa.
The document, sent on 31 March 2019 by Fahmy to a Fifa investigations committee, accused Ahmad of ordering his secretary-general to pay $20,000 (ÂŁ15,000) bribes into accounts of African football association presidents. They included Cape Verde and Tanzania.
The document also accused Ahmad of costing CAF an extra $830,000 (ÂŁ621,000) by ordering equipment via a French intermediary company called Tactical Steel. The company denied any wrongdoing and said it had won the contract on merit.
Furthermore, it accused him of harassing four female CAF staff, whom it did not name; violating statutes to increase Moroccan representation within the organization; and overspending more than $400,000 (ÂŁ300,000) of CAF money on cars in Egypt and Madagascar, where a satellite office has been set up for him.
Senior CAF officials, speaking on condition of anonymity at the time of his dismissal, said Fahmy was fired in reprisal for compiling the document with the allegations against Ahmad.

Read more