Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has debunked claims that he misappropriated funds during Black Stars’ participation in the World Cup tournament in Brazil in 2014.
He said the World Cup tournament in Brazil was a business for some elements, especially the Black Stars players, but all he was concerned about was to win the trophy.
The Former Minister said he was forced to break down momentarily before the Justice Senyo Dzamefe-led Commission of Inquiry tasked to look into Ghana’s poor showing in the football tournament because he felt betrayed and was shuttered.
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“Ask yourself, what is it that would make me, a hard guy just break down. It wasn’t about me, it was about the country because I saw this was a huge opportunity. I told the players to go and train because once we beat Portugal, the sky is our limit, they said they won’t train so they asked me, how I felt, in fact, I felt betrayed, shattered and was broken-hearted because I was seeing something, like let’s go and make history for Ghana but they were seeing a $100, 000,” he said in interview on Joy News’ AM show.
During the 2014 World Cup, the government sent the $3 milliom cash through a chartered flight to the Stars in Brazil, after the players had threatened to boycott their remaining group matches over the delay in payment of their appearance bonuses.
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The Black Stars had refused to fly out from their team camp base in Maceio to Brasilia for their then must-win clash against Portugal.
To him, he did not engage in any act of embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds during or after the Brazil World Cup fiasco.
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He said the Justice Senyo Dzamefe-led Commission of Inquiry was his salvation because there was a thorough forensic audit and he was never indicted for any crime though things did not go as planned.
“We didn’t organise this trip to take money. That Commission was a blessing in disguise because we provided receipt for water we bought and the reports are there. This was the first World Cup that the State didn’t give us money for organisation but we raised money and all were audited. I didn’t embezzle State money,” he emphasised.
Source: Adomonline.com | Dorcas Abedu-Kennedy