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NAIROBI. — The FIFA Audit Committee filed a complaint with the FIFA Ethics Committee requesting the disqualification of CAF president Issa Hayatou from elections set for this week as he was charged in a criminal proceedings for misdemeanor.

Hayatou, the Cameroonian strongman, is expected in Ethiopia as he seeks another term as the CAF boss.

The indaba could not be held in Cairo, Egypt, because of Hayatou’s legal challenges there.

The other candidate is the president of the Federation of Madagascar, Ahmad Ahmad.

Angel Villar, UEFA vice-president, will be present in the Ethiopian capital on behalf of President Alexander Ceferin.

A thorough investigation by the Egyptian Competition Authority (AEC) earlier this year uncovered the alleged wrongful practices of both the Cameroonian leader and his secretary-general, Hisham Amrani, in awarding the rights to broadcast all the competitions sponsored by the CAF, including the African Cup of Nations and the Champions League.

Complete research the aforementioned agency, which reports to the African Commission on Free Competition (COMESA), criticised the two leaders and asked the Egyptian authorities to immediately revoke the long-term contract (12 years) signed in 2016 with the French company ‘ Lagardère Sports’ in the face of the total lack of compliance with the laws for the protection of international free competition by the CAF.

The research carried out during more than half-a-year by the ACS found that the French telecommunications company had been benefiting, presumably, from the favours of Hayatou.

The Cairo Criminal Court admitted last week the prosecution’s request to try Hayatou on charges of violating competition law and to promote monopoly after confirming that CAF had awarded the new contract for the Television rights to ‘Lagardère Sports’ for a value of 938 million euros, concealing from its own Executive Committee the existence of a second offer, made by the company ‘Presentation Sport’, which amounted to more than 200 million euros presented by the company owned by Jean Claude Darmoun, then an intimate friend of the president of the CAF.

In the face of the seriousness of the incriminating evidence against Hayatou, the FIFA Audit Committee sent a formal complaint to the Ethics Committee’s investigation office on 8 March in an attempt to obtain his disqualification and, therefore, his exclusion from the electoral race on Thursday.

The petition, however, was dismissed in the face of the extreme closeness of the trial and in response to the presumption of innocence of Hayatou awaiting his appearance in the dock if he returns to Cairo. — soka25east.com