The CAF boss was in the European nation to attend the Fifa congress, which brought about Gianni Infantino’s re-election as President of the governing body.
According to Jeune Afrique, Ahmad Ahmad was detained at 8:30 am Thursday and will face the anti-corruption agency’s Central Office for Combating Corruption and Financial and Tax Crimes (Oclif).
Ahmad had previously denied the accusations, claiming all the decisions were made “collegially” and that the process was “transparent”.
Meanwhile, a statement from FIFA says the world football governing body is not aware of the specifics surrounding the arrest. It also says it’s asking for more information from French authorities.
FIFA statement on the detention of its Vice President Ahmad Ahmad pic.twitter.com/HlOoL1eLw9
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) June 6, 2019
In April, Reuters revealed that Caf secretary general Amr Fahmy accused Ahmad Ahmad of alleged bribery and misappropriation of funds, according to officials and internal documents.
The documents allegedly disclosed that the African chief had instructed Fahmy to pay $20,000 (£15,256) in bribes into accounts of African football association presidents, which included Cape Verde and Tanzania.
“The Confederation of African Football executive committee took the decision on 11 April to revoke (the position) of Amr Fahmy, the secretary general,” Nathalie Rabe, Caf’s head of communications told Reuters at the time.
“This was a decision taken by the executive committee and I don’t know about the allegations.
“There’s no explanation. It’s the Executive Committee decision.”
After the alleged arrest of Ahmad, Fifa released a statement, which was published on the Twitter account of Tariq Panja, the author of Football’s Secret Trade. In the statement, football’s governing body makes it clear that they will not comment on the Fifa Vice President’s particular situation while underlining its mission to run football in a clean and transparent manner worldwide.
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