Corrupt Referees Will Be Imprisoned From Now- Randy Abbey

Corrupt referees will be imprisoned this season.

By Saddick Adams
Chairman of the Referees Appointment Committee Randy Abbey has declared war on bribe-taking match officials in the top-flight stating they will be incarcerated if found guilty.

He says his outfit is ready to employ the services of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service this season to arrest the culprits for prosecution.

The former Ghana FA Communications Director was named chairman of the Referees Committee a season ago and has already instituted measures to rid the profession of corrupt officials.

Abbey revealed on Kumasi-based Angel FM: “It is so sad when the public lambast our authorities and football in general when in reality, a single individual in the name of officiating brings the game into disrepute.

“I already started with the selection of new referees and I realised most of the referees were even using fake certificates and had entered such a noble profession with false documents.

“The most problematic issue I have to deal with from this season is the issue of referees taking bribes and throwing matches.

“I think it is high time we start treating some of these stories as criminal issues because there is no way we can successfully deal with it without getting people imprisoned.

“This is a continent where football and political issues are treated separately from the general system but this time I am going to work together with the CID (Criminal Investigations Department) of the Ghana Police to fish out all these bad nuts.

“We'll spend time to investigate all issues of bribery as and when they come up after matches even if they are mere rumours

“Countries like England started having sanity in their game when they referred and treated cases of hooliganism and bribery in football as a crime.”

“If the investigations are done and a referee is found to have been involved in such acts, I wouldn't hesitate but let that referee be imprisoned by the right authorities to serve as a scapegoat and as a deterrent and we are going to start from this season,” he added.