Anas drags Kwesi Nyantakyi to FIFA

The embattled president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi, faces another fight to save his football career after renowned investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, officially lodged a complaint to football’s world governing body FIFA to institute a probe into the conduct of the embattled football chief.

The complaint, signed by Anas and dispatched to FIFA last Monday, comes in the wake of the premiering last Wednesday of a two-hour documentary which highlighted various acts of corruption by Ghanaian referees, FA officials, including Mr Nyantakyi, who is a member of the powerful FIFA Council and the First Vice President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Backed with audio-visual evidence, the nine-page petition to the Investigative Chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee, deemed Mr Nyantakyi’s conduct to be “highly unethical and damaging to the integrity and reputation of football and that of FIFA” as prescribed by the FIFA Code of Ethics.

In its complaint to FIFA, Anas demanded also that Mr Nyantakyi be banned for life from taking part in any football-related activity in pursuant of FIFA’s code of conduct.

It accused the FA boss, who is also president of the West African Football Union (WAFU), of abuse of position by using his office for private gains in violation of FIFA’s code of conduct; a breach of loyalty or fiduciary duty to the GFA, Ghana Premier League and other football clubs; egregious conflict of interest; and engaging in bribery and corruption.

Anas backed his complaints with facts of what he alleged to be acts of corruption and breaches of FIFA’s code of ethics and other articles by Mr Nyantakyi, including a narration of conduct in the undercover investigation in the documentary.

The beleaguered FA boss, who became Ghana’s football chief 13 years ago, is currently being investigated by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service following a complaint by Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, alleging that Mr Nyantakyi criminally used his name and that of the Vice President, as well as other high ranking government officials, to solicit money from supposed international investors, who turned out to be undercover private investigators with Tiger Eye PI, as captured in the documentary, entitled #Number 12.