The South African Football Association (SAFA) has responded to the raid conducted by the Hawks on Friday.
According to various media publications and a statement from Hawks, the embattled football governing body misused monies to the tune of R1,3 million.
The news surfaced on Friday as the corruption-fighting body raided the SAFA House in Nasrec, Johannesburg.
THE HAWKS RAID EMBATTLED SAFA HOUSE
Information doing the rounds is that the Hawks confiscated a laptop, external hard drives, a USB, and other documents.
In addition, this publication understands that the allegations raised by the Hawks directly target SAFA president Danny Jordaan.
“The allegations are that between 2014 and 2018, the president of SAFA used the organisation’s resources for his personal gain,” said the Hawks.
“Including hiring a private security company for his personal protection, and a public relations company without authorisation from the SAFA board.
“The president is also reported to have violated SAFA statutes thus prejudicing SAFA an actual loss of R1.3 million.”
TimesLIVE reports that Hawks spokesperson Col Katlego Mogale confirmed the developments on Friday afternoon.
He said that allegations “are that between 2014 and 2018 the president of SAFA [Jordaan] used the organisation’s resources for his personal gain, including hiring a private security company for personal protection and a public relations company without the authorisation of the Safa board.
“The president is also reported to have violated Safa statutes thus prejudicing Safa an actual loss of R1.3m,” Mogale said in a statement sent to the media on Friday.
Furthermore, SAFA’s communications manager Mninawa Ntloko was not available to take calls and didn’t reply to the messages sent to his phone on Friday.
SAFA RESPONDS TO RAID BY THE HAWKS
In a lengthy statement to the media and on various social media channels, the football body says the raid was conducted unlawfully.
“The search and seizure conducted by the Hawks at the South African Football Association’s (SAFA) headquarters in Nasrec, in the south of Johannesburg, on Friday, 8 March 2024 was unfortunate and a shame to our law enforcement agencies,” reads a statement from SAFA.
“The Hawks are claiming allegations of fraud and theft amounting to R1,3 million. SAFA is well aware of the amount and is satisfied that it was for services rendered, for which contracts can be provided.
“We want to set it out from the onset that we believe the search was unlawful, malicious, and not conducted in terms of the directives of a warrant given to us.
“We were not furnished with all the documents prescribed by law. The documents that were furnished by the Hawks during the shameful raid were incomplete and unlawful.
“We contend that it was done deliberately and intentionally in order to action this malicious action.
“As a result of this, we have instructed our attorneys to bring an urgent application to review and set aside this search and seizure. We have further instructed our attorneys to bring a formal complaint to the oversight arbitrator of the Hawks regarding the actions of all involved members.
“We will further institute civil action for defamation of character against those involved in the naming of the SAFA President’s name in an ongoing investigation. We contend that this is unethical and unlawful as the police never mentioned anyone’s name in matters that are under investigation.
“We believe, unfortunately, that these members of the police have been compromised and are being used in the callous abuse of state resources. Let us reiterate, there is no money missing from SAFA.”
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