Former Ghana Coach Claude Le Roy has been sentenced to two years in prison including an 18 months ban from all football activities by a French Court this Friday June 17, 2016.
Footballghana.com learned that Le Roy was jailed following his involvement in some fraudulent transfer deals when he managed Racing Club of Strasbourg between 1998 and 2003 years before guiding the Black Stars to third place in the 2008 AFCON.
Le Roy who also coached Cameroon, Senegal and Congo Kinshasa has been quoted as saying he was not aware of any illegality on the said transfers.
Among the transfers in question is that of the attacker Peggy Luyindula who moved to Olympique Lyon in 2001 for 58 million francs, plus a bonus of 11 million.
The lawyers of Leroy argued before the courts that the coach's lack of knowledge of the legal framework of transfers caused the illegal transfers to happen.
But Leroy's statement of defence has clearly not convinced the prosecution which is still pressing for the jail term for the coach.
"We're in a little world of ultra-privileged stirring hundreds of thousands of francs. If this is a grey area then we forget that there are regulations governing transfers, " the prosecutor, Sébastien Hauger, lamented in his submissions.
Also prosecuted in the case is, Patrick Proisy, former president of RC Strasbourg, who risks three years imprisonment and thirty months suspended.
No penalty of a fine was required against Claude Le Roy, who was placed in custody in this case in 2006, and Patrick Proisy, who prosecutors admitted that they had not personally enriched themselves.
The two agents pursued in this case, Gilbert Sau and Nicolas Geiger are rather being pursued to pay fines as they directly benefited from the case.
The ruling is expected to be delivered on 13 September.
The 68 year old's jail sentence could upset the AFCON 2017 qualifying prospect of the Togolese national team whom he is currently on a contract with.