Deputy Attorney General reveals why government can't prosecute football administrators

Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame has explained that the existing laws on bribery and corruption do not provide enough room for his outfit to prosecute football administrators/officials in the country.

He also revealed that the 'gray area' regarding the laws on bribery and corruption has necessitated a review to broaden the scope to include football officials and administrators.

Godfred Odame who is a member of a 4-man taskforce set up by FIFA to assist the Normalization Committee in the restructuring of Ghana football intimated that the law on corruption gives room for only public officials to be arraigned before court for financial mismanagement and corruption.

To avert a reoccurrence of the incidence, Godfred Dame stated that the government will initiate moves to make it legally permissible for sports officials to be tried by statuses of the GFA as well as the laws governing the country.

He said that the government will amend the Sports Act to allow for sports officials to be tried at the court.

“We have recognized that there is an urgent need for us to amend the domestic laws of Ghana so far as punishment of infractions in the sporting arena is concerned. If you look at the Anas video there were various instances of people who took money and had their conducts influenced one way the other.

This conduct is recognized by the FA and there is punishment prescribed. But that punishment is not enough to serve as a deterrent”.

“If a person offers money to a football referee to influence the outcome of a match, it is described as bribery but such bribery is not recognized by the domestic laws of Ghana. I say so because bribery and corruption only apply to public officers. Most of the officers engaged in football are private persons”. “The referees are private persons, most of the officials of the GFA may not be public officers. In fact, the president of the GFA was actually in the private sector and so if there is such conduct clearly it does not fall within the prescription of bribery and corruption”.

In the wake Anas’ Number 12 documentary, the government initiated moves to apprehend the football officials who were caught on tape engaging in various act of corruptions.

Then GFA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi was arrested by the Ghana Police Service following an order by President Akufo-Addo. Nyantakyi was charged with fraud and asked to return to the CID office for further grilling.

The secretariat of the association was closed down and labelled a crime scene to allow for CID officials to conduct their investigations. However almost a year after the expose, the CID has failed to brief the public on the findings of their investigations.