June 6 is gradually gaining notoriety as a day that leaves sour tastes in the mouth of many a football executive. Exactly a year yesterday when chief of undercover investigations, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, shook the foundation of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) with investigative documentary, Number 12, African Football Confederation (CAF) President, Ahmad Ahmad, was arrested in the morning in a hotel in Paris, where he was staying to attend the Fifa Congress.
According to JeuneAfrique.com, the online news portal that broke the story, the arrest was effected in the morning at around 8:30 am at the Hôtel de Berri in Paris and is linked to a contract unilaterally broken by CAF with the German equipment manufacturer Puma to enter into an agreement with Technical Steel, based in La Seyne-sur-Mer.
In a statement however, FIFA said it “has taken note of the alleged events concerning Mr Ahmad Ahmad, who is being questioned by the French authorities in relation to allegations related to his mandate while president of CAF”.
It continued that it was unaware of the details surrounding this investigation and therefore could not make any specific comment but that FIFA had asked the French for “any information that might be relevant to investigations taking place within its ethics committee”.
Having noted that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, the statement noted that: “As the FIFA president reiterated yesterday, FIFA is fully committed to eradicating all forms of wrongdoing at any level in football. Ahmad has already been the subject of FIFA ethics committee investigation
“Anyone found to have committed illicit or illegal acts has no place in football.
“FIFA is now clean from the scandals that tarnished its reputation and this same determination should prevail in governing bodies such as confederations. FIFA will be at the forefront of ensuring that this is enforced by everyone involved in football.”
The reference to the FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who was re-elected unopposed at Wednesday’s congress, is significant as he told the organisation’s 211 member associations that FIFA was no longer “toxic” and corruption would “never again” be tolerated.
It has been an eventful 24 hours for Ahmad, who was sat behind Infantino when the Swiss-Italian made that speech, as he then had to chair an emergency CAF meeting to resolve the controversy surrounding the African Champions League final.
After hours of secret debate, it was decided that Morocco’s Wydad and Tunisia’s Esperance should replay the final’s second leg after it was abandoned last week when Wydad left the field following a disallowed goal.
the 59-year-old former sports minister and current senator in Madagascar, Ahmad was elected president of the Confederation of African Football in 2017, a position which gave him a seat on FIFA’s ruling council as a vice president.
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