Former President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi has responded to the numerous allegations leveled against him since the latest investigative piece of Anas Aremeyaw Anas was made public.
Mr Nyantakyi in a press statement, painstakingly disclosed how he was framed by Anas and his team and was asked to pay $150k [$150,000] to drop the videos on him.
Read the full statement from below:
1. INTRODUCTION
Good morning media and fellow Ghanaians.
Thank you for the opportunity you have offered to listen and consider my responses to the investigative report on corruption in Football in Ghana by Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye PI team.
From the outset, let me state that I do not support corruption in any form. It is counterproductive and undermines the credibility of any endeavor.
In the same vein, I will condemn any premeditated and deliberately contrived scheme as well as any prejudicial piece of work undertaken under the guise of fighting corruption only for purposes of pursuing the private agenda of people intended to tarnish my reputation and cause disaffection for me among members of the general public.
2. APOLOGY.
I wish to first and foremost render an unqualified apology to the following very distinguished personalities. They are;
1.H.E the President of the Republic of Ghana.
2.H.E. the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. iii. H.E the former President of the Republic of Ghana. iv. Ministers and Deputy Ministers of State.
3.Senior Government Officials.
4.Members of the NPP and NDC, and
vii. The Football Family.
I owe them my deepest apologies because in my interaction with the supposed Sheikh from Qatar and his agents, I made comments that were not responsible for having regard to my stature and experience. Those comments resulted from a poor exercise of discretion arising on the spur of the moment and in the circumstances in which I interacted with the supposed Sheikh and his agents. I think I was carried away by the lies represented to me. I am deeply sorry for the inconveniences my unguarded utterances have caused you.
I also apologize to well-meaning and discerning Ghanaians, who I have by virtue of my indiscretion offended.
I extend the same level of apology to my family, friends and associates for the anguish and hardship this issue has created for them.
3. FACTS
In or about September 2017, Mr. Abdulai Alhassan (Mr. Alhassan), then Chairman of the Northern Region Football Association called and informed me that a certain Sheikh Al-Thani of Qatar (Sheikh) had expressed the interest in sponsoring the Ghana Premier League for $5m per annum for 3 years. Mr. Alhassan explained that information about the Sheikh’s interest in sponsoring the Ghana Premier League got to him from a certain Mr. Ahmed Hussein Suale (Suale) who is based in Qatar and Dubai. Mr. Alhassan told me that he knew Mr. Suale in Tamale and believed that the offer was genuine. He further informed me that Mr. Suale had been working with the Sheikh for at least 7 years for which reason the offer was worth considering.
Based on the representations Suale/Alhassan/I at Coco Vanilla (a restaurant at Adjiriganor, Accra) where we discussed the subject. During the meetings Mr. Suale confirmed to both Mr. Alhassan and I that:
(i) Sheikh Al-Thani wanted to set up an oil refinery in Ghana.
(ii) That as a businessman, Sheikh Al-Thani had similar investments in Cote D’Ivoire, Botswana, Lesotho and other parts of Africa.
(iii) The Sheikh Al-Thani was the majority shareholder of their family business known as MedGulf Construction Limited.
Mr. Suale further said that in 2016, Sheikh had initiated a similar move to establish an oil refinery in Ghana. He had held discussions with the previous Government.
Mr. Suale then told us that the Sheikh gave $8m in financial support to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) political party and the then President, John Mahama in December 2016 for the General Elections.
Mr. Suale also said that the Sheikh was ready to offer financial support to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in mitigation of expenses incurred in the run-up to the 2016 General Elections. He then sought our advice.
I responded by saying that if Sheikh Al-Thani spent $8m on a party that had lost Elections, it makes sense to spend the same amount or more on the party that won the election. I further stated that the President, Vice President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers all came out of a costly election so in making the provision to offer financial support to the party, he should donate to the NPP party:
•$5m in the name of (not to) the President
•$3m in the name of (not to) the Vice President • $2m in the name of (not to) Minister and
•$1m in the name of (not to) Deputy Minister
I advised that these amounts should be paid to the NPP party subject to the political parties law. These statements were made in the spirit of a general discussion and were made believing that all present were genuine and credible.
Subsequently, Suale and I met the supposed Sheikh in Dubai where I was tricked to repeat the donations in the name of the above officials. I did not know that I was being recorded. I certainly would have exercised a better discretion if I knew I was being recorded.
I would request that, Tiger Eye does us a favour by playing the full videos/audios of all the meetings held with Suale. The only occasion I met the supposed Sheihk was the meeting in Dubai.
The video/audio presented to the public cannot be appreciated outside the context of all the meetings and discussions held.
Now, after the meetings at Coco Vanilla, Accra, Mr. Suale confirmed that Sheikh Al-Thani wanted to meet us in Dubai. They offered to provide pre-paid air tickets. Mr. Suale, however, subsequently advised that the Sheikh had requested that I pre-finance the trip and be reimbursed.
I agreed and travelled to Dubai. I did not meet the Sheikh as promised. I paid for my ticket and hotel for the trip. Mr. Suale then arranged a second trip which was the only occasion I met the supposed Sheikh.
Mr Suale provided me with an outboard air ticket (Dubai- Cairo) only contrary to an earlier agreement to finance an all round trip for me (Accra-Dubai-Accra). Its clearly discernible that apart from a partial leg of the trips I was owed for the rest of airfares board and lodging which were incurred at the request of Mr Suale.
There was, however, a third trip the circumstances of which are unrelated to me personally although the Sheikh again requested through Mr. Suale that I pre-finance the trip to be reimbursed later. Since this trip does not relate to me personally, I do not think it necessary to disclose its details. I also paid for this trip.
It was during my second trip to Dubai that the Sheikh gave me $40,000.00 as reimbursement for the air tickets I pre-financed for my two(2) trips and the third trip.
It must be emphasized that I did not receive any other monies from the Sheikh for any other purpose.
I did not receive any monies for myself or on behalf of the President, the Vice President or any other senior Government official. Let me also clarify that H.E the President, H.E. the Vice President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers and Senior Government Officials had no prior knowledge or subsequent knowledge of all the discussions contained in the video.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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you can't trick an honest person
this is bs. what is the purpose of this statement? is the case not being investigated? is it in his interest to be talking like this? what if the investigations reveal something contrary to what he is telling us? then, he would come again with i-beg-you statement again? does he have a lawyer? kwasi, now the issue has taken a different dimension oh. it's not 150k and 40k oh. its about money laundering. do you know what that means? now to my substantive issue. my people, read the paragraph where he talks about 40k. he says the 40k is reimbursement for 3 tickets. he didn't say for he 3 trips. i believe he is a lawyer. there is a difference between 3 trips and 3 tickets. three trips can cost a million dollars between accra and dubai but 3 tickets cannot cost 40k. we all travel oh. no 3 tickets, accra-dubai-accra would cost 40k. if u add accomodation it may even cost more than 40k but the statment of fact kwasi is providing is that 40k was for 3 tickets which can't be true. now on my substantive
Was it not with the same Sports/ GFA that Malam Issa was imprisoned; was it not with the same set up that Muntanka was trapped and disgraced; was it not with the same Ministry that we had the Brazil and Elvis Afriyie saga. If you speak they would ask you for evidence but even when the evidence has been brought, they want to trivialize it. The bribe suggested by Anas could have been another entrapment to expose how Kwasi Nyantakyi further on how he managed to fight the first corruption allegation from the Brighton. If the matches we are watching in Russia today are being controlled by corruption, the we are better of not participating.
Kwesi what you did was not good. You have admitted your your badness and apologized. Fine. Leave the rest to Ghanaians to judge you. Any attempt to shift blame to cover up will do yuou more harm than good. In the Bible King David took somebody wife. The attempt to cover the crime comlicated matters for him to become more evil. Don't attempt to do that. Yes you were tempted and you fail. Who in this life is not tempted. Everyday we are tempted with women and money. If you fail you fail. If you pass you pass. Throughout your education you are always tested to to find the level of intelligence and smartness. When you pass you get promoted and when you fail you start again. Dont see yourself fished, even if you are. Dontalso think this would be your last temptation. Many more will come. Just bear in mind that all human are tempted. Even Jesus was tempted. What matters in life is to discipline yourself so that when tempted you pass.
Coooock and buullshitttttt statement. What dates did you travel to Dubai? Where are the receipts and expenditure details to confirm the amounts you claim you spent? When was your email account hacked? With you occupying such a high profile position, did you report the hack to any security agency? Who asked you to pay $150,000 for the story to be killed? What date was the $150,000 demand made? Where was the $150,000 demand made? Did you report this illegal $150,000 demand to the police? You just can't make statement without providing specifics and proof. You better go and tell this story to the marines
This Anas story, 1+1=0. he has done a job , but there are 2 sides to a story and only 1 truth.i feel anas should be investigated, anybody having evidence should bring it forward. the fact that he proves people accepting bribe, how about he taking money to edit the videos. both ways are very bad.anas took bribe , kwesi also took bribe. Investigate Anas.
Kwesi Nyantakyi, You claim the money was your traveling expenses (plane ticket, hotel bills etc) so how come in the video you were so excited and kept on thanking the person for reimbursing your supposed plane ticket?
I needed your rebuttal to ascertain for myself the truth. From your piece, I conclude that you are either the culprit or you don't have the moral turpitude to lead the GFA. How can you apologize on one side of your mouth and claim to be innocent from the other side? You seem to know how TI conducted all their operations, how they hacked your email and cloned papers and even forged your signature. It only shows your desperate attempt to ***barred word*** and sway public opinion. There were several opportunities to contact the authorities from your piece, such as when someone contacted you to pay 150 usd, or when they started talking about paying cash. Why didn't you direct these investors to the GIPC or your legal department? Your rebuttal did you no good except to put you in more legal jeopardy and expose the deep corruption in the GFA. First, the police would have to look into your email to ascertain if your email was hacked. Second, you would have to provide access to all transactions to ascertain good faith in all your dealings. Please keep quiet if you have nothing to provide as you are digging a deeper hole with your fake rebuttal.
I THINK WE SHOULD ALL GO BACK AND WATCH THE VIDEO AGAIN, THE MONEY ON THE TABLE COULD NOT BE $65K, UNLESS ANAS TELLS US THAT ONE PACK OF $100 BILL AND SIX PACKS OF $50 BILL IS EQUAL TO $65. ITS A SHAME THAT ANAS AND HIS PEOPLE STOLE $15K. THIS IS WHAT KEN WAS SAYING.IS TIME THAT WE CHALLENGE ANAS TO COME OUT WITH THE FULL VIDEO. I WILL ALSO ADVICE KN TO KEEP QUIET FOR NOW.
Peacefm, who is this journalist? Where is the story about the 'supposed' $150k? You CAN NEVER TARNISH Anas and his work for Ghana.