End of game for Ahmad Ahmad. The Malagasy leader, elected in March 2017 as president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), will not be able to seek a new mandate next year. He will no longer be able to continue to gravitate in the world of football. He was suspended by FIFA for a period of five years.
The decision of the FIFA Ethics Committee, announced Monday November 23 in a press release, surprises no one. Ahmad Ahmad had been in the crosshairs of the world football body for a long time. The prospect of elections for the presidency of CAF, and his recent decision to apply for his own succession, hastened things.
FIFA’s internal justice considered that the former Malagasy politician (he was Secretary of State for Sport and Minister of Fisheries in Madagascar) “ had breached his duty of loyalty, granted gifts and other advantages, managed funds inappropriately and abused his position as president of CAF. » Rather copious for a single man, who arrived at the head of African football with his pockets full of promises of transparency and fairness after the Issa Hayatou years.
The investigation by the ethics commission “ focused on various issues related to the governance of CAF, including the organization and financing of a pilgrimage to Mecca, its connections with the sports equipment company Tactical Steel and other activities., according to FIFA.
In addition to his five-year suspension, Ahmad Ahmad is fined 200.000 Swiss francs (185.000 euros).
Ahmad Ahmad, 60, who entered the world of football as a coach, was placed in police custody in June 2019 by French justice for suspicion of corruption. Two months later, FIFA decided to place CAF under supervision, by sending the secretary general of the world body, Fatma Samoura, to slip into an unprecedented role of “general delegate” for a period of six months.
Last February, an audit carried out by the Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) agency on the finances of CAF was very critical of the methods and management of the Malagasy leader.
Furthermore, the former secretary general of CAF, Amr Fahmy had alerted FIFA by a letter without nuance, where he accused Ahmad Ahmad of corruption - payment of bribes to several leaders, personal use of CAF funds — and sexual harassment against several employees of the continental organization. Ahmad Ahmad had denied the facts. Then, in April 2019, he got rid of his secretary general by showing him the door.
Ahmad Ahmad, who temporarily abandoned his post after being affected by the coronavirus, will be able to appeal FIFA's decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). But he will have to wait for the publication on the FIFA website of the entire decision of the ethics committee, a 55-page document which will not be accessible for 60 days. In the meantime, the interim head of CAF has been held since April 13, 2020 by the Congolese Constant Omari.
Expected if not anticipated, the sidelining of Ahmad Ahmad opens the door of CAF wide to a new head. Less than four months before the presidential election, scheduled for March 2021, four men announced their candidacy: Ivorian Jacques Anouma, 70, already a candidate in 2013 against Issa Hayatou; South African Patrice Motsepe, 58, ranked in the top 10 of the richest people on the African continent; the Senegalese lawyer Augustin Senghor, 56, presented as the man of consensus; and the Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya, 44, considered close to Ahmad Ahmad.
Two other leaders, Tunisians Tarek Bouchamaoui and Wadie Jary, have also announced their intention to run for the presidency of CAF.
