Second African official in World Cup ticket probe (Reuters) Updated: 2006-07-06 09:07 A second leading African
football official has been implicated in a World Cup ticket scandal,
Confederation of African Football (CAF) officials have said.
CAF executive committee member Celestin Musabyimana has been arrested in
Rwanda for allegedly forging documents in an attempt to secure tickets to
matches at the finals in Germany.
Musabyimana has been charged with fraud after his arrest last month, CAF
officials have confirmed.
Last month FIFA sent home Botswana official Ismail Bhamjee after he sold
tickets in Germany just after the start of the finals. Bhamjee said he had acted
in the belief he was helping desperate fans.
Musabyimana is accused of forging Rwanda Football Federation documentation in
an attempt to obtain tickets valued at 29,000 Euros ($37,040), claiming he was
maintained to represent the association even though he had lost his vice
president's position last January.
Each FIFA member association is allowed an allocation of World Cup tickets
and Musabyimana's alleged fraud was discovered after Rwanda enquired from FIFA
about purchasing their allocation, officials said.
Musabyimana now risks losing his position on the powerful CAF executive
committee, just months after winning election at the organisation's Congress in
January.
CAF have promised a statement in the next weeks on the future of both
Musabyimana and Bhamjee, who is also a member of their executive committee by
virtue of his FIFA position.
Bhamjee, whose FIFA mandate comes to an end at the end of the year, admitted
selling 12 tickets at three times their face value for the World Cup match
between England and Trinidad & Tobago in Nuremberg, and was ordered to leave
Germany by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
He faces a possible expulsion by FIFA.
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