Kwesi Nyantekyi, former president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), has been discharged by a Ghanaian high court after a five-year legal battle. The case stemmed from an investigative documentary titled 'Number 12' which showed Nyantekyi receiving cash from an undercover reporter. Although he was initially given a life ban by Fifa for bribery and corruption, the case collapsed due to the prosecution's failure to present witnesses.
A high court in Ghana has discharged Kwesi Nyantekyi , the former president of the country's football association (GFA), after a complex five-year legal battle. Alongside his Ghana Football Association role, Nyantekyi served as a vice-president of the Confederation of African Football ( Caf ) and was also a member of the Fifa council. He was given a life ban by football's world governing body for breaking bribery and corruption rules, but that sanction was later overturned.
The case against him collapsed after Ghanaian state prosecutors failed to present any of their five potential witnesses, including undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.Nyantakyi's case stemmed from an investigative documentary titled 'Number 12'. Secretly recorded footage showed him receiving $65,000 (£51,500) cash from an undercover reporter pretending to be a businessman keen to invest in Ghanaian football. He denied any wrongdoing, claiming the footage was doctored to incriminate him and that he had received a lesser amount in reimbursement of travel expenses. Nyantakyi dismissed the investigation as 'shoddy work with cut and paste' but later resigned from his positions at the GFA, Caf and Fifa before the latter body could finalize its disciplinary proceedings. He was the most prominent person among more than 100 football officials - most of them West African referees - who received cash during the Number 12 investigation.Despite the documentary's findings, the prosecution's inability to secure testimony from their witnesses led to the decision of the high court in Accra to discharge Nyantakyi. One major issue in the case was how Anas would appear in court as a witness. In May 2023 an Accra High Court ruled that the undercover reporter could take to the stand wearing his trademark bead mask. However, a Court of Appeal subsequently overturned that decision, insisting Anas should testify without the mask. On Thursday, state prosecutors submitted a request for a one-month adjournment to work out their next move, but that was denied
Kwesi Nyantekyi Ghana Football Association Caf Fifa Bribery Corruption Number 12 Documentary Anas Aremeyaw Anas
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