By William
Yaw Owusu
Tuesday June
19, 2018
Embattled former
President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi, is fighting
ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, over his expose on corruption
in football administration which forced him to resign recently.
After about two
weeks of silence, the once powerful FA chief is alleging that Anas and his
Tiger Eye PI team entrapped him and later demanded a whopping $150,000 to discard
the videos on him.
Third Party
“Let me also confirm
that there was a demand on me through a lawyer to part with $150k for Anas to
drop the videos on me. I didn’t have the said amount of money to meet his
demand,” Mr. Nyantakyi stated in a news release issued yesterday.
Mr. Nyantakyi also
claimed Anas and his team hacked into his personal email account in order to implicate
him.
He challenged Anas
to play the unedited recordings for public analysis.
Anas Fires Back
Anas quickly debunked
the assertions that they demanded $150,000 from Mr. Nyantakyi to drop the video
which was premiered recently.
He challenged the
suspended FIFA Council member to provide evidence to buttress his claims.
“The claim that a
third party made a demand of $159k for Anas is a complete fabrication, a figment
of Mr. Nyantakyi’s imagination and has no merit,” Tiger Eye PI said in a
statement.
“We dare Mr.
Nyantakyi to name his third party. In fact, Tiger Eye is willing to provide
undercover support to assist him find this third party should he extend an
invitation to us again.”
The investigative
journalist also said, “Regarding the purported hacking of Mr. Nyantakyi’s
email, this is also manufactured to make him appear a victim. Again, we dare
him to substantiate who hacked his email and how the person did it in this day
of advanced technology; these events are traceable.”
Nyantakyi Concerns
Mr. Nyantakyi, in
his statement, said he was not given any $65,000 as portrayed in Anas’ expose
and explained that he was given $40,000 as refund for his air travel and accommodation.
He alleged that Anas’
videos were voiced over to give a certain negative effect to tarnish his
reputation.
“Why did Tiger Eye
lie about the amount of money given to me? Why was the viewing public not
allowed to perceive what they saw and heard themselves? Why run commentaries to
deceive the viewing public?” he quizzed.
Namax Deal
He insisted that the
audio that painted a different picture about Namax contract was created to
present a false impression about him to the public.
He said he had no
interest in the contract and that the FA was not party to the Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) involving NAMAX and another company.
Anas was able to
give details as to how Mr. Nyantakyi proposed to create a company (NAMAX) to
act as an agent to help with the Ghana Premier League sponsorship deal.
The video also
highlighted how Mr. Nyantakyi drafted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and
signed on behalf of the created company, NAMAX, for the sponsorship deal.
Intermediary Charges
In the Tiger Eye
expose, the company proposed to charge between 20 and 25 per cent as fees for
helping the GFA to secure sponsorship deal for the Ghana Premier League.
But Mr. Nyantakyi,
in his statement, said the MoU was signed between two companies without the
FA’s involvement.
“The MoU was between
NAMAX and Medgulf Construction Company Limited. The GFA was no party to it. I
had no personal interest in the MoU. If my signature was cloned and pasted
there, it had no legal effect.”
"A poor
understanding of legal instruments laced with mischief can only lead to the
pointless argument canvassed therein. The point is obvious when account is
taken of the description accompanying the signature. It’s unthinkable that I
will be signing a document in my capacity as the GFA President when the GFA is
not a party to the document.”
Anas has already
written to FIFA to ban Mr Nyantakyi for life for alleged misconduct, although the
association has imposed a 90-day ban on the former GFA boss, who was also the First
Vice President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Nyantakyi Questions
Mr Nyantakyi fired,
“Why would Tiger Eye, together with BBC, try to make us believe the supposed
investigation was carried out over a period of two years when the first match
was investigated on 19th of March 2017? Why was the video published
a few days to the FIFA decision on the host of 2026 World Cup?”
He added, “One
objective of the expose was to discredit me as a key supporter of Morocco’s
bid. How come Aden Range Marwa, the Kenyan referee, was tracked to no other
place but Morocco by Tiger Eye. This and other questions point out irresistibly
to motives than exposing corruption.”
Anas’ Response
However, Anas, in
his statement, said that “we wish to advise Mr. Nyantakyi to address the issues
uncovered by Tiger Eye PI investigations without seeking to pull others in his
behavior,” adding “we are not aware /privy to any meeting with former
footballers and two others. This is also a lie.”
“We are not surprised
at his rate of manufacturing stories without any proof. He is good at it. From
his own admissions, Mr. Nyantakyi did not have the consent of the political
authorities to negotiate on their behalf, yet made a fantastic presentation on
their behalf.”
Anas insisted that
Mr. Nyantakyi was given “$65,000 as a gift and all hotel accommodation expenses
were borne by Tiger Eye team although it was an official meeting.
“The raw tape,
together with all documentary evidence, has been submitted to the security
agencies to investigate.”
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