HANDS UP AT GFA-As security cracks into football strongroom, Wednesday, December 8, 2010, Front page

NATIONAL security operatives yesterday enforced a court order on the Ghana Football Association (GFA) by raiding the Accra offices of the football governing body, taking away computers and files.
Interrupting the usual business activities at the FA, the operatives barricaded the premises in search of evidence which they claimed would assist in its investigations into payments and sponsorship deals involving the national football team, the Black Stars.

A spokesman for the security operatives told the Daily Graphic that the action had been taken on the strength of a search warrant secured by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), after its request for certain documents had been ignored by the FA.

He said following the refusal of the FA to comply with the request, the EOCO went to court, which granted the order “to search and seize” the relevant documents.

The EOCO official explained that the GFA President, Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, had been invited for questioning but he had declined the invitation, saying the EOCO had no legal mandate to invite him.
In the heat of the melee, Mr Nyantakyi drove in and told journalists that he was yet to find out the basis for the action of the security men.

He admitted that the EOCO had actually invited him but that it had been at short notice, pointing out that “anytime you are invited by an investigative body, you need to prepare yourself and because the time was short, we asked for more time”.

“Somebody thinks he is right and we also think we are right, so an independent body like the court will decide who is right,” he stated.

He said the GFA needed time to organise itself and respond appropriately, adding that since the issue of whether or not the EOCO had the authority to investigate the FA was in court, he would not comment on that.

“Let them do whatever they want. At the appropriate time we will also take the matter up. I haven’t done anything. I remember they sent an invitation and we responded that they should give us another day. We have not heard from them since,” he concluded.

The  scene at the FA at the time the Daily Graphic got there was that of anxiety, as scores of people, including a number of sports journalists, had virtually  besieged the FA offices to find out what was going on.

 The Technical Director of New Edubiase FC, Mr Emmanuel Afranie, was seen standing around.
A Toyota Land Cruiser, with registration number NR 1018-09, had been used to block the main gate.

A source at the GFA said the security operatives arrived about 9:50 a.m. and closed the entrance leading to the main offices of the football governing body, while refusing to let people in or out.

It said a number of computers  bearing the logo of the Marketing Department of the FA were carted away by the security operatives.

Minutes after the security operatives had left, a group of people describing themselves as supporters of the  National Democratic Congress stormed the GFA offices, claiming they had come to stop the action of the EOCO because it would give the government and President Mills a bad name.