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Issa Hayatou and Hicham El Amrani counter-attack and announce their intention to appeal, two days after being sentenced by the Cairo Economic Court to pay each 500 million Egyptian pounds, for having initialed in 2016, on behalf of the CAF, a contract with Lagardère Sports. The former president of the African Football Confederation and his former secretary general denounce an unjust judgment that is only aimed at them.
A "verdict […] quite grotesque "in the eyes of Issa Hayatou. "A farce more than a court decision," according to Hicham El Amrani. The former boss of African football and the former head of the CAF administration have no hard words, this November 28, 2018, to criticize the ruling of the Economic Court of Cairo (CAC) rendered November 26 .
Hayatou and El Amrani will appeal
Sentenced in Egypt to pay each 500 million Egyptian pounds (24.5 million euros or 16 billion CFA francs), the former president of the Confederation of African Football and the former Secretary General denounce a mock trial .
The Cameroonians and Moroccans announce everyone want to appeal. The first to "put a definitive end to this intolerable defamation and repeated attacks on [s]we honor. And the second to be "let [sa] reputation intact ".
Issa Hayatou said he was ready to "take the case to any other competent international tribunal," while Hicham El Amrani said he wanted to take "time for reflection" on this eventuality.
An Egyptian company at the origin of this judgment
What does the Cairo Economic Court blame the two men for? To have ceded the management of marketing rights / media of African football for the period 2017-2028 to the French company Lagardère Sports (LSE), against the sum of one billion US dollars, under supposedly abnormal conditions. This contract, signed by Issa Hayatou and Hicham El Amrani, would violate Egyptian law, particularly in terms of competition, said the CAC.
At the very beginning of this case, there is the complaint of an Egyptian company, Presentation Sports (PS), owned by billionaire Ahmed Abu Hashima. The latter seized the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) at the end of 2016. In January 2017, the ECA seized the case and obtained in March 2017 a trial at the Economic Court.
PS claims to have made an offer superior to that of Lagardère but have never had a chance against the latter. A version widely disputed by Issa Hayatou: "One day only before the signature […] with Lagardère Sports, […] "Presentation" submitted to CAF a sheet of paper of one page – qualified "offer" – proposing 1.2 billion US dollars for the purchase of the commercial rights. It is worth remembering that commercial rights have never been put on sale, but only license agreements were envisaged. "
"What makes me smile today is that at the very time that an agreement was signed with Lagardère Sports in June 2015, the famous company Presentation did not even exist, adds Hicham El Amrani. CAF has never failed to follow the required procedures, especially in such a case. This is a $ 1 billion contract that represents the financial independence of an institution like CAF! This is not the kind of contract that we will take lightly or for which we will not surround ourselves with the best experts.
A contract signed by and for CAF
Issa Hayatou and Hicham El Amrani claim to have acted solely as a CAF representative and in his best interests. " The proof […] is that the contract signed with Lagardère Sports is still maintained in force by the current CAF Executive and continues to produce its effects, "said the Cameroonian in his release, forgetting in passing that his successor, the Malagasy Ahmad, is currently renegotiating the deal with LSE.
The two convicts are surprised in any case because the CAF was not involved in the legal proceedings. "We are accused […] to have signed the agreement and to have negotiated everything on our own, deplores the Moroccan. This is a pretty grotesque argument. We can not end up negotiating around a table with a company the size of Lagardère Sports […] without having the entire Confederation behind this type of process. It is a collective work, with experts and the Executive Committee that validates all this ".
The two former leaders hammer so that everything was made in the rules and that one seeks only to harm them. "This case is orchestrated with a political agenda and for the benefit of some individuals," says Issa Hayatou, without accusing people.
A field on which Hicham El Amrani does not prefer to follow his former boss, even if he concludes: "I personally think that this case [la candidature de Presentation Sports, Ndlr] has been manufactured since the start. […] The various attempts made a year and a half / two years ago by this company were made with the aim of creating a minimum of content to send to the Egyptian justice. "
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