A Minister of State at the Presidency, and former Youth and Sports Minister Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, has denied embezzling funds meant for Ghana’s participation at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
In a statement released Sunday, Afriyie-Ankrah said he rendered “full accounts,” of his “stewardship to the relevant authorities with respect to both the funds allocated to the team by government and the funds which I together with my team solicited through an innovative corporate sponsorship drive.”
Ostensibly a response to a Government of Ghana White Paper on the country’s poor showing at the World Cup, the NDC stalwart said:
“I wish reiterate my long-standing and unambiguous position, for the avoidance of all doubts, that, I NEVER and DID NOT engage in any act of embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds in and outside the Brazil World Cup saga. I rendered full accounts of my stewardship to the relevant authorities with respect to both the funds allocated to the team by government and the funds which I together with my team solicited through an innovative corporate sponsorship drive.”
The former Minister’s Office was one of several invited by a Justice Dzamefe Commission after the World Cup, to respond to some issues pertaining to the handling of the entire process.
Afryie-Ankrah appeared before the Commission on August 21, 2014, in a session that lasted that partly turned emotional when he wept for few minutes after being asked by the Chairman of the Commission how he felt when players of the national team failed to train in one of several unfortunate incidents recorded at the football showpiece.
By: Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana
