[ 2014-06-23 ]

Ghana at Centre of Match Fixing Scandal after Undercover Investigation


President of Ghanian FA Kwesi Nyantakyi agreed to
a match fixing deal for $170,000 per match.

Ghana has been implicated in a match-fixing
scandal after an undercover investigation by The
Telegraph and Channel 4's Dispatches programme.

The President of Ghana's Football Association,
Kwesi Nyantakyi, was exposed after he was filmed
agreeing to the team playing in rigged
international matches, in return for payment of
$170,000 per match.

The Telegraph and Channel 4's Dispatches launched
a six-month investigation into match-fixing, after
receiving information that suggested that some
football associations were working with criminal
gangs to rig scores in international games.

Reporters from The Telegraph went under cover,
claiming to represent an investment company that
wanted to "sponsor" matches during the
tournament.

Christopher Forsythe, a registered Fifa agent and
Obed Nketiah, a senior figure in the Ghanaian FA,
reportedly bragged about employing corrupt
officials who would rig matches played by Ghana.

The president of the country's football
association then met the undercover reporter and
finalised a contract which would see the team play
in the rigged matches, in return for payment.

The contract stated that it would cost $170,000
(£100,000) for each match organised by the fixers
involving the Ghanaian team, and would allow the
bogus investment firm to appoint match officials
and referees.

- Christopher Forsythe, Registered Fifa Agent
"You [the company] will always have to come to us
and say how you want it to go...the result," said
Mr Forsythe. "That's why we will get the officials
that we have greased their palms, so they will do
it. If we bring in our own officials to do the
match...You're making your money."

"You have to give them [the referees] something...
they are going to do a lot of work for you, so you
have to give them something," said Mr Nketiah.

Mr Forsythe said that match fixing was
"everywhere" in football and that he could even
arrange rigged matches between Ghana and British
teams. "The referees can change the matches every
time. Even in England it does happen," he said.
"We will always choose associations/countries that
we think we can corrupt their officials for all
our matches."

Mr Forsythe and Mr Nketiah then introduced the
undercover reporters to Kwesi Nyantakyi, the
president of the Ghana FA, during a meeting at a
five-star hotel in Miami earlier this month ahead
of a match with South Korea.

During the meeting, the president agreed to a
contract that stated each match would cost the
investment company $170,000 and that they could
appoint the match officials for each game.

When they were later confronted about their
operation, both Mr Forsythe and Mr Nketiah denied
any involvement in a plot to fix matches. Mr
Nketiah said: "These are false allegations and I
will never in my life do such a thing."

Mr Nyantakyi said that he had not read the
contract and he did not know about the deal to fix
games. He said that the proposed match would have
been handled by a licensed Fifa match agent and
that he was unaware that Mr Forsythe had demanded
£30,000 for the football association.

Issuing a statement Mr Forsythe, said: "To be
frank everything I told you about the match fixing
was a figment of my own imagination because I am
so naive that I don't even know how matches are
done. They were promises just to be able to get
something off you."

The Ghanaian FA announced it has asked the Ghana
Police Service to investigate Mr Forsythe and Mr
Nketiah for "misrepresenting the GFA with an
attempt to defraud".

The football body has also reported the matter to
FIFA and CAF.

In a statement, it said: "We wish to assure the
public that we will not tolerate such
misrepresentations and we will seek strong
sanctions against such individuals if such claims
are found to be true."

Last week saw the first convictions of criminals
in the UK for attempting to rig football matches,
following an earlier investigation by this
newspaper.

Chann Sankaran and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan,
businessmen from Singapore, and Michael Boateng, a
former professional footballer, were found guilty
of match–fixing after a six-week trial.

Sankaran and Ganeshan were sentenced to five years
and Boateng 18 months. Sankaran and Ganeshan were
found to have links to the notorious international
match fixer Wilson Raj Perumal, and were said to
be attempting to establish a network of corrupt
footballers in Britain.

Instances of match fixing ahead of the 2010 World
Cup in South Africa had prompted FIFA and its
partners in the betting and law enforcement
agencies to monitor all friendlies ahead of this
World Cup.

Source - IBTimes

... go Back