General News of Wednesday, 22 January 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

I only cautioned Ahmed Suale in 2017 after he ‘scammed’ me – Nyantakyi reveals

Ahmed Hussein Suale and Kwesi Nyantakyi Ahmed Hussein Suale and Kwesi Nyantakyi

Former Ghana Football Association boss, Kwesi Nyantakyi has condemned reports linking him to the murder of member of Tiger P.I., Ahmed Hussein Suale a year on.

Mr. Nyantakyi who until now had been off the media space following his resignation from the GFA, opened up to GhanaWeb in an exclusive interview that he felt there was an agenda to crucify him despite his innocence.

His emergence from the shadows had been necessitated by a “misreportage” of events by a French investigative journalist which was subsequently carried by some local media outlets.

A renowned international journalist, Guillaume Perrier, on Thursday. 16th January 2020, published findings of a private investigation into the murder of Mr. Suale, alleging that the Ghana Police Service had decided against following up on a critical lead.

In a series of tweets, he stated that among other things his team of investigators have proof that former President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi, sent death threats to the murdered undercover journalist and although the death threat has been filed, it was not trailed by the police.

“We also met former head of Ghana FA Kwesi Nyantakyi, banned for life by FIFA after being filmed by the investigative journalist pocketing $65,000 in a fake sponsor deal signed in Dubaï. And we can reveal that he also sent death threats to Ahmed Suale in 2018.

“Be very careful! You can easily lose your life with that’ he said to Ahmed in a phone conversation. The recording of it is part of the criminal file but was not investigated by Ghana Police,” Guillaume tweeted





Despite admitting that he had briefly met Mr. Perrier in August 2019, Kwesi Nyantakyi vehemently denied granting him audience and disclosed that the sequence of events had been miscommunicated.

He noted that his phone conversation with the late Ahmed Hussein Suale occurred in November 2017 and not 2018 as reported by Mr. Perrier.

He recounted that he had met Mr. Suale through his aide, Abu after he promised to link him to a Qatari sheikh close to the Emir Al-Thani, who was ready to sponsor the Ghana football league.

“My conversation with Ahmed Suale actually took place in 2017. At the time I didn’t know he was an investigative journalist. I didn’t know he worked with Anas. I didn’t know he has set me up.

"After spending over $25,000 on airline tickets and hotel fees at Qatar, Ahmed Suale switched off his phone and bailed on us. He scammed me.

"He put me through an unnecessary burden of paying travelling expenses of a West African presidential candidate from his country via Accra to Dubai to meet non-existent Sheikhs for financial assistance.

"With the aid of a national security official, I tracked Ahmed Suale’s hideout at Kantamanto at the time he was supposed to have been in Dubai for the meeting.

"He later called to confront me about why I had reported him to a national security official and describing him as a fraudster.

"I rebuked him and said he had to be careful with what he did. I thought he was a 419 guy. To evoke the fear of God in him I cautioned him to beware of such 419 tendencies in him else he could lose his life in future if he continued living in those ways.

"I told him that if he continued to scam ‘powerful’ people, they could attack him spiritually, I thought he was a 'sakawa' boy, to be honest with you.

"It had absolutely nothing to do with investigative journalism or tiger eye or #12. The police are very much aware of all these facts. They've got the recordings, date of recordings and all relevant facts.

"I was invited for questioning by the police on January 18, 2019. After their investigations showed the date of conversation they discredited the audio connecting me.

"If Anas and Kwaku Baako thought I threatened Ahmed they would’ve reported me to the police in 2017 but they never reported any complaint of threat to police from 2017 through 2018. The issue only came up in 2019 after the death of Ahmed,” he told www.GhanaWeb.com exclusively.



Ahmed Hussein Suale was shot and killed by assailants on a motorbike while driving in his neighbourhood in January 2019 barely six (6) months after premiering of Number12, a documentary, Ahmed was a key producer of.