Police Chief Orders GFA Rethink

The Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) are in disagreement over who is entirely responsible for visa fraud in the name of football, Daily Guide Sports can confirm. The Visa and Document Fraud department of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters believe that the responsibility for overseeing correct procedures within football lies with the supervisory body, and thus place their trust in them. Concern was expressed by the Police department over the phenomenon of illegitimate football �invitations� to foreign countries, endorsed by fake documents. Francis Baah, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) for Document and Visa Fraud said, �When it comes to football, I expect the GFA to rather be up and doing, they should be alert. If the football authorities come to the police we give them respect. We assume they will tell us the truth.� However, when Daily Guide Sports approached the GFA about who should actually educate players about the possibility of football trafficking, they said the responsibility lies elsewhere. �Right now we ask the Professional Player�s Association to educate people about it. They have gone through and experienced these unfortunate incidents. Most are retired professional football players,� Emmanuel Gyimah, Deputy General Secretary of the GFA told De Sports. Gyimah added, �This becomes a civil issue and we are not party to it. We receive a minority of documents which are fake and we send them back.� The GFA did not express any motivation to root out �fake agents� who sometimes work under the guise of being registered, GFA-endorsed agents. Baah said that if this was the case, they should rethink their policy. The GFA has the power to procure real visas and documents for potential players, however, scandals have previously led to the arrest of GFA officials. Three GFA officials were arrested after �players� were sent to Australia for a competition and, upon arrival, disappeared in the country. They were supposed to be playing in a tournament for disabled players, but the young men were not physically or mentally disadvantaged. Baah expressed his opinion that the GFA should take control of the matter. �Whoever is at the GFA must be a responsible person. If that person is not responsible, he can mislead everybody. Because with the Australia experience, I can tell you there was a letter from the Chief Executive of the National Sports Council (NSC), Mr Worlanyo Agra, but then when we checked, it was a forged signature,� he said. The corruption which led to the Australia scandal is believed to be from lower down the management ladder at the GFA.