[ad_1]
By Jean-François Rosnoblet and Emmanuel Jarry
MARSEILLE/ PARIS (Reuters) – French authorities have released Ahmad Ahmad, chairman of the African football governing council, after several hours of interrogation as part of an investigation into a corruption case, announced Friday. a source at the prosecutor's office.
The president of the 59-year-old African Football Confederation (CAFwas arrested Thursday by the authorities at his Paris hotel but released by the magistrate instructor in the evening, the source told Reuters.
This left Ahmad, a former minister of his native country, Madagascar, free to leave France. "There is no judicial review or house arrest," said the source, who follows the case.
Ahmad has been reported to the world governing body FIFAThe ethics committee by then CAF Secretary General Amr Fahmy in March for alleged corruption and harbadment. Fahmy was fired.
The allegations followed a series of scandals related to FIFAPractices in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia in recent years, leading to the impeachment and imprisonment of many top football leaders.
The French source said that Ahmad had been questioned on charges of "active" and "pbadive" bribery, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization.
Neither he nor a lawyer representing him could be contacted to comment despite multiple attempts. There was no immediate response from CAF no more.
Ahmad, who is also vice president of FIFAhad gone to Paris for the congress of the organization, where its president, Gianni Infantino, newly re-elected, said that his institution had finally lost its "toxic, almost criminal" image.
"eradicantMISCHIEF"
In a statement Friday, FIFA asked for more details about Ahmad's case, while stating that all allegations were to be investigated.
"In accordance with the established procedure, everyone has the right to the presumption of innocence, but as a FIFA the president reiterated yesterday, FIFA is fully committed to the elimination of all forms of wrongdoing at all levels of football, "he said.
"Anyone found guilty of illegal or illegal acts does not have a place in football."
A document sent on March 31 by Fahmy to FIFA The ethics committee accused Ahmad of ordering his secretary general to pay $ 20,000 in bribes to the accounts of the presidents of the African football badociations. At the time, Ahmad did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations.
FIFA then launched an investigation on Ahmad.
The internal document also accused Ahmad of harbading four women CAF the staff, which he did not appoint; violation of laws to increase Moroccan representation in the organization; and spend over $ 400,000 of CAF money on cars in Egypt and Madagascar, where a satellite office was set up for him.
The document also accused Ahmad of having cost CAF an additional $ 830,000 by ordering material through an intermediate French company called Tactical Steel, rather than directly from manufacturers.
The French investigation has not yet been clearly established to determine whether the link with Tactical Steel in France was at the origin of the investigation.
Tactical Steel, based in La Seyne-sur-Mer, near Marseille, said it had no comments to make immediately. In April, President Sabine Seillier declared that Tactical Steel won a prize CAF contract legitimately in accordance with French law and was not involved in any bribe.
(Report by Jean-François Rosnoblet in Marseille, Emmanuel Jarry and Inti Landauro in Paris, edited by Luke Baker and Andrew Cawthorne)
Source link
