General News of Monday, 13 May 2013

Source: ghanasportsonline.com

Robbery at GFA! $63,000 missing

The Ghana Football Association has been hit by a serious scandal involving the missing of an amount of $63,000, Ghana Sports can reveal.

The incident has led to the Black Stars Bus driver being arraigned before the Accra High court.

Black Stars Bus driver at the GFA, Mr. Sammy Nartey, was handed two separate cash cheques to withdraw an amount of $63,000 and (Gh9,000) Nine thousand Ghana cedis from the Bank in the name of the Football Association.

According to reports, the driver made some other errands after withdrawing the money from the Bank before reporting back to his bosses at the GFA thinking that he had kept the monies safely in his ‘letter box’.

To his dismay, he found out upon arriving at the premises of the GFA that only the Nine Thousand Ghana cedis was in the Bus and that the $63,000 had been stolen. His explanation failed to convince his bosses who reported him to the police leading to his arrest and subsequent arraignment before Court. Sitting on the case last week was adjourned whilst investigation continues.

Bystanders are alleging that the said monies were contributions of winning bonuses put together by the Black Stars management committee members who traveled to South Africa for AFCON 2013 and that the monies have been reserved for other committee members who couldn’t make it to AFCON 2013 as has been the practice of the management committee members of the various national teams.

Although this allegation is unproven, it is quite puzzling to understand why the GFA should send their driver to go to the Bank to withdraw a foreign currency to that tune. Could it be that the GFA was using the monies to pay somebody for a service rendered?

If so, couldn’t they have given the said cheque to the person direct to reduce the risk of sending a driver to the Bank?

Were the monies meant for the day to day running of the Association? If so, why should it be in dollars? These and many more are questions that come to mind when one thinks about this scandal. Ghana Sports will follow the issue to the hilt.