African football has been hit by further scandal after auditors looking at the books of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) discovered missing expense claims.
The audit and compliance committee has claimed that more than $16 million of “unrecognized expenses” were not included in official accounts. What this means in the larger scheme of CAF accounting is that it should’ve posted losses of more than $25 million.
In July, CAF’s general secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, boasted that the organization was reducing its debt after inheriting a deficit of close to £30 million in March 2021, however last month the audit and compliance committee claimed there had been “unauthorised interference” from Mosengo-Omba because the external auditor had been appointed by him.
He responded to those claims in a letter last week saying CAF’s statutes had not required him to seek their consent “before engaging a consultant”.
“To this end, it was deemed inappropriate to comment or discuss with her the matters under investigation, as this could have been taken as interference in the official proceedings.”
In another letter, Mosengo-Omba said that CAF will extend the 70-year age limit by five years for prospective executive committee members at its general assembly next week.
Asked by The Guardian newspaper to respond to inquiries regarding the audit process, neither CAF nor Mosengo-Omba gave any indication they will answer the questions. With $12 million for “technical costs not allocated to clubs, federations, and host countries”, and the remainder corresponding to “unrecorded expenses that should be accrued and recorded” one has to wonder where the money has gone.
The audit and compliance committee has said that the discrepancy is for the year ending 30 June, 2023.
