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African football’s governing body found to have $16m in expenses missing from accounts
The Confederation of African Football’s audit and compliance committee has claimed that more than $16m (£12m) of “unrecognised expenses” were not included in official accounts, meaning it should have posted losses of more than $25m (£19m).
A letter sent to members of Caf’s executive committee last Saturday and seen by the Guardian alleges that its review of a report compiled by the external auditors EY had revealed the apparent discrepancy in the accounts for the year ending 30 June 2023.
That includes almost $12m (£9m) for “technical costs not allocated to clubs, federations and host countries”, with the remainder corresponding to “unrecorded expenses that should be accrued and recorded” and “unrecognised provision for debt balances” and “other debit balances”.
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The audit and compliance committee has calculated that the $16.18m unaccounted for would take Caf’s deficit for the year to $25.43m after losses of $9.25m were revealed earlier this year. In July, Caf’s general secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, had cited the lower figure as evidence that it was reducing its debt. Mosengo-Omba inherited a deficit of about £30m in March 2021. “For the next fiscal year, it will be zero,” he said.
Neither Caf nor Mosengo-Omba responded to requests from the Guardian for comment.
Separately, an investigation into Mosengo-Omba and his office is ongoing after Caf’s head of governance, risk and compliance (GRC) accused them of “impeding” members of her department from performing their duties and, among other claims, of breaching internal governance and auditing regulations.
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 and said Caf’s statutes had not required him to seek their consent “before engaging a consultant”. Mosengo-Omba also dismissed concerns that the external auditor’s report “was prepared in such a way as to contradict all the allegations contained in the confidential report” by the GRC because he said the investigation remained ongoing. “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,” he wrote.
In response, the audit and compliance committee said it would have been “even more inappropriate for the secretariat to present the documents under investigation to the external consultant for inclusion in her report submitted to our committee for validation. The Committee maintains its position expressed in the report of 11 September 2024 and remains of the opinion that this is an attempt to use it to pass documents and procedures that are the subject of the ongoing investigation.”
A letter from Mosengo-Omba – who has also denied allegations of dishonest management, fraud and forgery of documents in Switzerland – that was sent to national associations last week confirmed that Caf will extend the 70-year age limit by five years for prospective executive committee members at its general assembly next week.
It also gave prospective candidates until 12 November to register their intention to stand in next year’s presidential elections. The incumbent, Patrice Motsepe, is expected to face competition from the 71-year-old Egyptian and Fifa council member Hany Abo Rida, among others. The vote is likely to take place in March.
