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.