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Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

CAF Fires Senior Egyptian after Accusing Boss of Corruption


Mon 15 Apr 2019 | 09:00 PM
shawar ibrahim

The Confederation of African football’s ruling body has fired a senior official after he made corruption accusations against the organisation’s president in a potential blow to FIFA’s efforts to clean up the game after a raft of scandals worldwide.

The organization fired general secretary Amr Fahmy after the Egyptian accused his boss Ahmad Ahmad of bribes and misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to officials and an internal document, Reuters revealed.

The document, sent on March 31 by Fahmy to a FIFA investigations committee and seen by Reuters, accuses Ahmad of ordering his secretary-general to pay $20,000 (£15,256) bribes into accounts of African football association presidents. They included Cape Verde and Tanzania.

The document also accused Ahmad of costing CAF an extra $830,000 by ordering equipment via a French intermediary company called Tactical Steel.

Furthermore, it accuses him of harassing four female CAF staff, whom it did not name; violating statutes to increase Moroccan representation within the organisation; and over-spending more than $400,000 of CAF money on cars in Egypt and Madagascar, where a satellite office has been set up for him.

Senior CAF officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Fahmy was fired in reprisal for compiling the document with the allegations against Ahmad, from Madagascar, who took the top African football post two years ago.

CAF confirmed to Reuters that Fahmy lost his job at an executive committee meeting in Cairo on Thursday, prior to the draw for the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

It declined to give more details about the reason for his dismissal. “There’s no explanation. It’s the Executive Committee decision,” communications director Nathalie Rabe said in an email exchange with Reuters on Sunday.