By Papisdaff Abdullah.
Ace Investigative Journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas has petitioned the Attorney General, the Bank of Ghana and the Economic and Organised Crime Office to probe the tenure of Kwesi Nyantakyi as President of the Ghana Football Association.
According to Anas, his undercover engagement with the resigned GFA boss shows that Mr. Nyantakyi abused his office for financial exploits.
The work by Anas has led to the near dissolution of the Football Association by the Government of Ghana. Several of the FA officials who were indicted in the investigative story have been asked to step aside while Mr. Nyantakyi, who has resigned, is on a police enquiry bail for fraudulently using the name of President Akufo-Addo in the secret filming.
In a petition sent to the respective state agencies, the journalist said “We have found Mr. Nyantakyi abusing his office, breaching his fiduciary duties, engaging in acts of egregious conflict of interest, demanding and receiving gifts and other benefits, and engaging in bribery and corruption, and money laundering. These were uncovered by way of hard facts”.
The petition further noted: “For a period of three (3) months in 2017, I (together with my associates operating under the corporate name of Tiger Eye P.I.) conducted an undercover investigative journalism work into perceived corruption of Mr. Nyantakyi. The investigation sought to ascertain whether there was any basis for the perception, especially after the much-publicized money claims fiasco that characterized Ghana’s participation in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
“By his conduct, as detailed in paragraph 2 above and evidenced by the attached documentary evidence, it is our firm belief that Mr. Nyantakyi breached the criminal laws of Ghana including offences as money laundering, corruption, bribery, and fraud by false pretenses, by abusing his office.
“It is upon the foregoing that we request a full-scale investigation into the activities of Mr. Nyantakyi, especially his stewardship of the Ghana Football Association and Fountain Savings & Loans Limited. Our investigation revealed the equity holding structure of Fountain Savings and Loans Limited as follows:
“Newfikin Limited 6,500 shares • Kwesi Nyantakyi 6,000 shares • Pro KN Communications – 2,250 shares . Mr. Nyantakyi is also the sole shareholder of Pro KN Communications —thus making him the majority equity holder in Fountain Savings and Loans Limited — confirming his assertion of ownership.
“After waiting for weeks without the transfer of the sponsorship money, Mr. Nyantakyi grew restless and sent an electronic mail circa 12 November 2017 to my outfit (the supposed Dr. Marzuq A. Albadawir) complaining about the lateness of the arrival of the money.
“Circa 25 November 2017, Mr. Nyantakyi sent another email to my outfit (the supposed Dr. Marzuq A. Albadawir) detailing the payment to be made at the time and offering the supposed Dr. Albadawir USD100,000 a year for three (3) years on the earned commission of 10%. Mr. Nyantakyi also offered USD20,000 to the supposed Dr. Albadawir, being 10% of an appearance fee of USD200,000. Through a further series of emails exchanged between Mr. Nyantakyi and my outfit (mainly the supposed Dr. Marzuq A. Albadawir), Mr. Nyantakyi set up in clearer form the scheme for the sponsorship for the Ghana Premier League and government contracts.
“Scheme of the Sponsorship of the Ghana Premier League. In respect of the sponsorship of the Ghana Premier League, Mr. Nyantakyi set out a scheme both orally (in the audio-visual recorded meeting); the handwritten and printed memoranda of understanding; and in electronic mail correspondence as follows”.
