Following an investigation by the Telegraph and Channel 4’s Dispatches into football match-fixing, The Telegraph goes in search of the President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi
12:29PM BST 23 Jun 2014
The Telegraph's chief reporter Gordon Rayner and photographer Lewis Whyld travelled 1,000 miles from Rio de Janeiro to Maceió on the Brazilian coast to try to interview Kwesi Nyantakyi at his hotel.
When they attempted to call Mr Nyantakyi in his hotel room, they were stopped by members of the Ghanaian FA in the hotel lobby and told to cease filming the encounter.
The Ghanaian FA press officer, Ibrahim Sannie Daara said that Mr Nyantakyi was unvailable for an interview.
The Telegraph wanted to speak to Mr Nyantakyi following the publication of video footage filmed in June showing him meeting undercover reporters at the St Regis Bal Harbour hotel in Miami.
The meeting was the culmination of a six month investigation by the Telegraph and Channel 4’s Dispatches into football match-fixing, in which representatives of “Diamond Capital” said they wanted to arrange football matches while appointing the referees.
Appointing referees is a common way of fixing the result of a football match. Before the Miami meeting, the fixers said that the President of the Ghana FA had raised concerns that he might be accidentally holding a meeting with undercover reporters.
Two fixers – Christopher Forsythe and Obed Nketiah – had arranged the Miami meeting, but Mr Nyantakyi had already spoken to the Diamond Capital representatives on Skype.
Over the course of the meeting, Mr Nyantakyi said that the sports investment group should have an “experimental period” before the Ghana FA agreed that all their friendly matches should be organised by Diamond.
Although the contract specifically stated that Diamond would appoint the referees – in direct breach of Fifa rules – Mr Nyantakyi only raised concerns about the exclusivity clause.
After being contacted by the Telegraph, the Ghana FA said they would report the matter to the police.