The Botswana Football Association (BFA) on Wednesday refuted claims that its president Maclean Letshwiti has embezzled funds from Confederation of African Football (CAF) in the form of a bribe.
“The funds received were not a bribe from the CAF president (Ahmad Ahmad) to buy the BFA president’s loyalty. The BFA president has not received any funds directly into his personal account from CAF,” the association said.
BFA said the funds in question are made available to all CAF-affiliated countries on an annual basis.
“These grants are awarded to CAF affiliates annually and are intended to assist all associations with fulfilling their financial obligations in furtherance of the development of the sport. CAF regulates how these funds are utilised,” the BFA said.
It said a circular from CAF dated 8 June 2017 directed that a yearly grant of US$100,000 be made available to each member association and that 20 percent of the funds be used as “compensatory allowances for the president of the (national) federation”.
It said the CAF circular also directed that another 50 percent of the funds be used to support youth development while the remainder would be for match officials’ indemnities.
KO/jn/APA