Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday ordered police to arrest football federation head Kwesi Nyantakyi, a member of the powerful FIFA Council, over allegations of fraud.
Nyantakyi is president of the Ghana Football Association, a vice president of the Confederation of African Football, and has been a member of the ruling FIFA Council since 2016.
Akufo-Addo’s order was announced by the state-run Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
Nana Akufo-Addo ordered the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service on Tuesday, 22 May 2018, to arrest Mr Nyantakyi after having been privy to investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ Number 12 undercover documentary, which exposed him as using the name of the president for certain purposes.
Abu Jinapor, deputy chief of staff at the president’s office, said the order for Nyantakyi to be arrested and investigated related to an undercover documentary that purports to show the football official asking businessmen for money in return for access to the president and other senior government officials.
“It was a clear case of defrauding by false pretense,” Jinapor said, adding that Akufo-Addo’s order came after he watched excerpts from the documentary, which has not yet been broadcast.
Ghanaian media reported that Nyantakyi was not in Ghana at the time of the president’s order but was returning home.
Nyantakyi has been accused of improper behavior before when a British media investigation just before the 2014 World Cup claimed he had been willing to allow the Ghana national team to play in games that could be fixed by others. He denied the allegation.
