Aftermath Of EOCO Strike, FA Can Be Investigated Says Pappoe

Fred Pappoe - GFA Vice-President

Under-pressure Ghana Football Association (GFA) has hit back at critics with the explanation that the FA is open to investigation, contrary to the wrong impression being created in some circles that it is not law-abiding.

“The erroneous impression that we are above the law is very false. What we do in the FA is not different from what pertains in other public institutions,” the GFA vice president, Mr Fred Pappoe, told the Graphic Sports.

Reacting to the backlash of Ghanaians following last week Tuesday’s swoop of the FA offices by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in connection with investigations into sponsorship agreements between the FA and other institutions, Mr Pappoe said the FA had been adhering to strict internal accounting procedures just like any other state agency after which the accounts are sent to the Ghana Audit Service which audits the accounts of other state agencies.

“It is erroneous for anybody to say that the FA is not an accountable or responsible institution. Though we are a private company limited by guarantee, we go out of our way to send our accounts to the Ghana Audit Service for external auditing, though we are not obliged to do so,” he explained.

He revealed that after auditing, the final accounts are sent to the FA Congress which is the highest decision-making body of the association and copied to the Ministry of Youth and Sports which in turn presents it to Parliament.

According to him, the FA prepares its financial statement at the end of every soccer season between June and May and that auditors are currently auditing the GFA accounts for the past season.

Mr Pappoe said, the FA was well aware that it was an organisation which operates under two sets of rules from FIFA and the State and was therefore ready to subject itself to the rules of the land, notwithstanding the FIFA clause which debars the government from investigating monies received by the FA from other agencies apart from the government.

In line with the FIFA statutes, the FA vice president described EOCO’s action as third party interference and not government interference as some people have termed it.

He declined to pass judgment since the GFA is currently contesting the EOCO in court, but thought that last week’s incident could have been avoided had the GFA been given adequate time.

According to him the EOCO wrote to the FA on October 11 asking them to provide certain information on some particular transactions, and the FA replied the letter on October 13 and asked to be given some time to furnish them with the necessary information.