CAIRO: The African Football Confederation is heading into yet another period of turbulence after the sacking of secretary-general Amr Fahmy.

Africa’s ruling body acted reportedly because Fahmy for registering corruption accusations against the CAF’s Madagascar president Ahmad. The Reuters agency stated that Fahmy had accused Ahmad of bribery and misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Fahmy sent the ethics committee of world federation FIFA a document stating that he had been ordered by Ahmad to pay $20,000 in bribes into accounts of African football association presidents. They included Cape Verde and Tanzania.

Reuters reported that the Fahmy also accused Ahmad of incurring $830,000 charges by ordering equipment via a French intermediary company called Tactical Steel.

Furthermore, it also accused him of harassing four female CAF staff, whom it did not name; violating statutes to increase Moroccan representation within the organisation; and over-spending more than $400,000 of CAF money on cars in Egypt and Madagascar, where Ahmad has created a local office for himself.

CAF has confirmed that Fahmy was replaced by Moroccan Mouad Hajji on the eve of last week’s draw for the African Nations Cup finals.

Ahmad, who is also a vice-president of FIFA, has not commented in the allegations but has previously rejected any claims of wrongdoing.

The situation in Africa is a delicate one for FIFA.

Ahmad, who ousted long-serving Issa Hayatou two years ago, has been a loyal supporter of FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

However, during his reign various corruption allegations have dogged members of the CAF executive committee – which was the last thing FIFA needed after the vast corruption scandal involving former senior FIFA personalities in the Americas.

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