Source: Citifmonline
An executive member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), George Afriyie, has taken the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to court to prevent it from investigating the federation and its president.
Afriyie has filed an application for an order of prohibition at an Accra High Court over recent controversies about the business activities of the GFA.
The SFO waded into the matter after calls from certain quarters for Ghana’s football governing body to be probed and those found culpable of any untoward act to be dealt with accordingly.
The SFO had invited the GFA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi to a meeting on Monday September 13, to answer questions relating to the Glo Sponsorship deal for the Ghana Premier league.
The FA maintains that an agent, Mid Sea Company Limited, brokered the $15 million deal and the agent is entitled to 10% of the total sponsorship package.
A Director of Mid Sea Company Ltd, Professor Ewurama Addy, denied knowledge of any dealings between his outfit and the GFA, a statement that was subsequently contradicted by management of the company.
The management of Mid Sea, in a press statement confirmed that it acted as an agent for the Ghana Football Association in the deal.
The intended meeting between the SFO and the GFA was meant to unravel the controversies surrounding the deal.
However, Mr. George Afiriyie, acting in his own capacity as an executive of the GFA, has filed a suit seeking to prohibit the SFO from going ahead with the intended investigations.
In an interview with Citi News, Counsel for Mr. Afiriyie, Egbert Faibille Jr. said the suit was filed on the basis that the GFA and Glo, being private entities cannot be investigated by the SFO which is legally mandated to investigate only public enterprises.
“The mandate of the SFO is to investigate any state owned enterprise to which the state has financial interest. The GFA is a private company limited by guarantee; GLO is also a private entity. The state as far as we are concerned has no financial interest in this transaction between the GFA and Glo Mobile. The transaction is between GFA, a company Ltd by guarantee and a private company, GLO".
"The Auditor General's Department is the body mandated to audit the accounts of the Ghana Football Association. The Auditor General has completed and submitted its account of the Ghana Football Association in relation to the Ghana national football teams. So what again is the issue? “He queried.
According to Egbert Faibille, the writ has been duly served on the GFA and the SFO and until the case is determined by the High Court, the SFO cannot go ahead with its intended investigations.