More than a year since the documentary by Anas Aremeraw Anas on widespread corruption within Ghana football aired, one of the major scalps from the investigation, then-President Kwesi Nyantakyi, might finally have his day in court.
The Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, has indicated that her outfit is working to present the case involving Kwesi Nyantakyi before court, hinting that the legal processes might be initiated in two weeks.
This came to light during an interaction with Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday where she responded to queries posed to her by the legislators.
When the Mion constituency MP Mohammed Abdul-Aziz inquired of the status of the investigations into the actions of the former GFA honcho, she said that another high-profile case – the killing of a member of Anas’ team, Ahmed Suale who was going to be a key witness – had stalled the case.
“Unfortunately, Mohammed Suale, a member of Tiger Eye and a principal witness with whom the prosecutors directly engaged in the preparation of the case was tragically killed on 16th May, 2019. The death of the journalist unavoidably stalled the preparation of the case,” she noted.
She was hopeful that prosecution would begin within a fortnight.
“The review of the docket has since been completed and the presentation of the case in court is imminent. Give and take a week or a fortnight, the matter may be presented [to court] but I need to say that the filing is within our control but the fixing and actual presentation is in the control of the court,” she added.
Nyantakyi’s downfall
Kwesi Nyantakyi lost his standing, and all positions in local and international football after Anas Aremeyaw screened his exposé, dubbed #Number12 a year ago which captured the former GFA Boss allegedly detailing how would personally benefit from a supposed $15 million sponsorship money for Ghana’s league.
Nyantakyi, also told the supposed investor, how he [the investor] could be given several government contracts if he paid bribes to some key government officials such as Ghana’s President and the Vice President.
He resigned from his positions at the GFA, WAFU, CAF and FIFA, where he served as a member of the world football governing body’s Executive Council and was later banned from all footballing activities for life.
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) was directed by the President to investigate the matter and as part of their investigations, they seized mobile phones and laptops of the embattled football administrator as he was formally charged with defrauding by false pretence.
Nyantakyi has since been replaced as GFA President by Kurt Okraku.