An Accra High Court has once again adjourned the trial of banned former President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi and former Northern Regional Representative of the GFA, Abdulai Alhassan, to November 26, 2021.
The adjournment was occasioned by a change in the state attorney who was initially handling the case though it is not clear why a new prosecutor has been assigned to the case.
The case was initially scheduled for yesterday for case management after the court had ordered the prosecution to file all the necessary documents they intend to rely on for the trial.
The change in the prosecutor has forced the court presided over by Justice El-Freda Dankyi, to adjourn the case to November 26, 2021 for the case management to proceed.
Main Trial
The two football gurus are being tried over their alleged shady deals which were exposed by popular investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas in his Tiger Eye PI ‘Number 12’ investigative piece.
Mr. Nyantakyi and Alhassan have been charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, fraud and corruption by a public officer, to which they all pleaded not guilty.
The two, according to the prosecution, executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of a non-existent company, claiming to be attracting sponsorship for the Ghana Premier League (GPL).
They were further alleged to have demanded US$12 million from the supposed investors, promising to land them major contracts in Ghana.
The investigative piece by Anas and his Tiger Eye PI covered the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Ministry of Youth & Sports, GFA, the Ghana FA Cup and the Women’s Football League.
The private investigations which initially focused on football matters in the country eventually ‘diverted’ to political and investment matters as the ex-GFA boss tried to allegedly convince the ‘investors’ he had what it took to influence the business community in Ghana.
He discussed a certain US$12 million deal with his ‘investors’, who unknown to him were from the Tiger Eye PI – and that was how the name of the President, his Vice and some government officials came in.