Tribe Culture Fest has denied collecting money from individuals promised visas to the United States, Canada and Mexico, insisting its dealings with the National Sports Authority (NSA) were limited to event and travel logistics.
The company’s CEO, Nana Boateng Gyimah, made the clarification at a press conference on Sunday, October 18, following allegations by Minister for Sports and Recreation Kofi Adams involving payments reportedly totalling $611,000 in connection with Ghana’s World Cup travel arrangements.
Gyimah said Tribe’s agreements with the NSA and other institutions covered services such as hotel bookings, transportation, security and travel logistics, not private arrangements with individuals seeking visas.
“Our dealings were institutional arrangements relating to specific programs and activities. They were not personal financial arrangements with private individuals seeking visas to travel to the United States, Canada, or in fact, Mexico,” he said.
He disclosed that Tribe charged $3,000 and $2,000 as full and final payments for its services under the arrangements, insisting that the company had not received money directly from individuals seeking visas.
“Our attention has been drawn to the fact that individuals paid as high as 14,000 to 20,000 to individuals at the NSA with the promise of securing visas for their travels to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, but mainly the United States and Canada,” he said.
“We add that we have at no point in time received any payments from any individual as we were being told,” he added.
Gyimah’s comments distinguish the institutional payments Tribe says it received for logistical services from the larger sums allegedly paid to individuals at the NSA in exchange for visa assistance.
The company is demanding documentation to establish who received the disputed payments, how the money was transferred and whether any of it reached Tribe Culture Fest or its CEO.
It has also challenged the authorities to provide the contractual and legal basis for any demand that it refund money linked to the allegations.
