African football leader, Ahmad Ahmad was reportedly arrested by French police Thursday morning.
A report by Jeune Afrique claims the president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) was apprehended at around 08:30 am at Berri Hotel in Paris where he was staying to attend the Fifa Congress.
Ahmad is to appear before the Central Office for Combating Corruption and Financial and Tax Crimes (OCLCIFF).
The report suggests Ahmad’s arrest is in connection with multiple allegations levelled against him by a former Caf General Secretary, Amr Fahmy. One of such involves a French company, La Seyne-sur-Mer-based Tactical Steel, who were favoured over Puma in an equipment deal prior to the 2018 Chan tournament. This saw the German kit company’s initial contract abrogated.
The allegation – Tactical Steel over Puma deal
The Caf boss was accused of personally intervening in a kit deal for the supply of official equipment for the 2018 CHAN tournament hosted by Morocco. This saw Puma side-stepped.
According to the claims, “on December 12 Caf’s marketing department sent an email tender to potential suppliers outlining equipment and kit needed. Puma responded almost immediately and on December 14 a deal was struck for €312,000, a 60% discount on Puma’s list price.
But what looked like a cost effective deal was cancelled on December 18 when Ahmad allegedly stepped in ordering the secretariat to terminate the deal with Puma and issue the same equipment request to Tactical Steel – a supplier of predominantly fitness goods online to the consumer marketplace.
Tactical Steel is run by Romuald Seilier, allegedly a close friend of Loïc Gerand, the personal attaché of Ahmad.
While Puma claimed a €105,000 cancellation penalty offer, Tactical Steel was offering to provide the same equipment, but manufactured by Adidas, at an $830,000 higher cost of $1,195,603. Assuming that Adidas’ costs are broadly similar to Puma’s for the same equipment, the margins for Tactical Steel and its partners are huge.
The deal with Tactical Steel has not ended there. To date it is estimated the French company has invoiced Caf almost $3 million with a number of payments requested by Seilier to be routed through a Turkish company called Serin Hidrafat Ltd and its account with ING bank.” (NOTE: Portion culled from Insidefootball.com)
