Capt. Amenyedor denies $170,000 story

Accra, April 4, GNA - Captain Victus Amenyedor (Rtd), who is reported to be in the centre of a scandal over Laryea Kingston's transfer has denied his involvement in the deal and described the publication by an Accra bi-weekly as "a smear campaign by people who want to destroy my hard won reputation and dignity."

It would be recalled that an Accra bi-Weekly sports paper last week reported that FIFA has ordered Captain Amenyedor to refund to Accra Hearts of Oak, 170, 000 dollars as part of Laryea Kingston's transfer fee when he was transferred to an Israeli club.

"I have all the correspondence on the issue and at no point did FIFA mention my name, it is therefore ridiculous for anybody to say that FIFA has asked me to pay 170.000 dollars to Accra Hearts of Oak or any other person or club."

Captain Amenyedo who tended documents to the GNA Sports to support his claim, is the sole owner of Kpando Volta Warriors until he sold his majority shares to Mr Jacob Golan, an Israeli investor.

The retired military officer said the FIFA ruling was on a dispute between Mr Golan and Hapoel Tel Aviv FC and wondered why he should become the centre of the 'storm'.

He said Hapoel FC persuaded Mr Golan to pay Hearts of Oak 100.000 dollars in respect of Kingston, since they were then in financial crisis at the time the transfer deal was brokered.

Capt. Amenyedor said based on that, Mr Golan entered into an agreement with Hapoel FC that made the Israeli club to pay him 52.000 dollars as part payment and a further 15,000 dollars penalty if the part payment was not paid immediately after the contract had been signed by Hapoel FC and for the player to become a free agent.

Referring to a copy of the FIFA judgment which was signed by Mr Urs Linsi, General Secretary for the Player Status Committee, Hapoel FC terminated the contract of Kingston on July 1, 2004 and Mr Golan whose money had not been paid by Hapoel moved to secure a club, Krylia Sovetov Samara of Russia for the player for 175,000 dollars so as to redeem his investment.

He said since the Israeli club had not paid Mr Golan and for that matter Volta Warriors, they went to FIFA claiming the part payment of 52,000 as well as the 15,000 penalty separately from Hapoel, while Hapoel countered with a claim to a percentage of the forward transfer. The nine-member FIFA Status Committee under the chairmanship of Mr Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder of Germany ruled that Volta Warriors should pay Hapoel Tel Aviv 20,000 dollars within 30 days "as from the date of notification of this decision".

Volta Warriors was also asked to pay five percent interest per year on the outstanding amount until the effective date of the payment. The ruling also gave the parties the right to appeal in accordance with Article 60 paragraph 1 of the FIFA Statutes.

Capt. Amenyedor said the ruling was clear and did not proffer any intent of fraud from either party and therefore the publication was "just a ploy by some elements who are enemies of football to malign me and thwart our effort to develop football in Ghana."

He said he had referred the matter to his solicitors for advice and necessary action, adding that, "I shall fight on all fronts to clear my name, which has a lot of respect."

On Friday, March 18, an Accra bi-weekly published a story under a screamer, "Refund $170,000" and with a rider, "FIFA orders Ghanaian agent."

The story mentioned the retired Captain as the person "at the centre of the storm."

Capt Amenyedor said that if the paper had not meant to tarnish his reputation and drag his name in the mud, they would have contacted him to hear his side instead of "rushing to press with a cooked up story which had no semblance of the FIFA ruling."