Former Confederation of African Football (CAF) boss Issa Hayatou has labeled the case against him over the broadcasting deal with French firm Lagardere a smear campaign.
The veteran Cameroonian football administrator on Monday incurred the wrath of a court in Cairo after being found guilty of breaking Egypt’s laws on anti-monopoly.
The 72-year-old was found wanting along with ex-Secretary General, Egyptian-born Hicham El-Amrani, for failing to entertain bidding competition when they sold out broadcasting rights to French firm Lagardere Sports in a multi-million contract running for 11 years.
Issa, who presided over CAF for over two decades before losing his post to Ahmed Ahmed last year, had been quiet over the ruling before breaking his silence recently.
“This verdict is quite grotesque and has no justification in that it constitutes a flagrant disregard for the facts of the case and for the provisions of Egyptian and international competition law,” Cameroon’s Hayatou said in a statement.
“I will naturally appeal … while reserving the right to bring the case before any other competent international court, so as to put an end to this intolerable defamation and repeated attacks on my honor.”
“There is no doubt from the beginning that this case has been initiated with a clear political agenda and for the benefit of certain individuals, in an attempt to damage my reputation and that of the former general secretary,” he continued.
Elucidating further, the 72-year-old said: “Mr El Amrani and I have, at all times, and in particular in relation to the agreement with Lagardere Sports, acted ex-officio and as mandated by the Caf Executive Committee, as evidenced by the successive deliberations and minutes.”
“The decision of the Economic Court to condemn us while clearing CAF is in flagrant violation … of the Egyptian Competition Law, the individuals concerned and the entity represented being legally inseparable and jointly liable.”
“Despite the undeniable fact that the agreement between CAF and Lagardere is an agency agreement, the Economic Court insisted on qualifying it as a sales agreement.”
“This wrongful qualification goes against the provisions of the agreement and the documents submitted.”
Egyptian company Presentation Sports had lined up throwing their hat in the ring in the race for the rights but found negotiations had long been finalized between the then CAF head and the aforesaid firm.
The situation led to Presentation lodging a complaint to the North African country’s Authority for Fair Play competition who pushed the matter to Cairo’s Economic Court.
CAF had then denied wrongdoing vowing to defend itself before any court.
However, Hayatou’s successor Madagascar’s Ahmed has revealed plans of setting up a commission to renegotiate the deal which Lagardere have also expressed interest in complying with.
