FIFA Clears Kwasi Nyantakyi

Kwasi Nyantakyi

A forensic audit conducted by FIFA on the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has found no acts of corruption or financial impropriety against Kwasi Nyantakyi during his tenure.

According to popular football website www.ghanasoccernet.com, the audit conducted on the orders of the world governing body six months ago also cleared members of the Executive Committee of the GFA of any acts of malfeasance.

The FIFA auditing officials, who spent about one month in Ghana investigating the financial records of the federation, discovered that neither corruption nor embezzlement took place at the GFA.

The audit report concluded that the Ghana FA had only ‘perception issues’ to deal with since media reports of corruption within the federation were “wide of the mark.”

However, the FIFA auditors recommended that the slim accounts office staff must be boosted, while modern accountancy software that was used by some federations like the South African FA must be acquired by the Ghana FA to ease the workload.

The audit report has been made available to the Normalisation Committee of the GFA for about two months now, but it’s not known why it has so far been kept secret from the public.

The report will come as a relief for Mr. Nyantakyi and the Executive Committee of the Ghana FA because there were suspicions of corruption within the federation.

The Normalisation Committee has struggled to meet the expectations of the football fraternity since Mr. Nyantakyi left office.

According to the website, the latest development would offer the former Ghana FA boss an opportunity to clear his name following the allegations of corruption levelled against him.

The forensic audit was sparked by Mr. Nyantakyi’s resignation from his position as the President of the Ghana FA in the wake of an undercover investigation that claimed he took bribes.

Mr Nyantakyi resigned his CAF and FIFA posts but claimed the footage had been doctored to falsely incriminate him.

Despite this, the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee banned him for life from “all football-related activities at both national and international level.”

The former Ghana FA chief has taken the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sports to challenge FIFA’s decision.

Mr. Nyantakyi, who sued Anas Aremeyaw Anas in court for violating his human rights, is also seeking damages for defamation.

By Kofi Owusu Aduonum