Nigerian soccer officials charged with $9.5m fraud

ABUJA: Three Nigerian football officials have been charged with fraud after allegedly diverting $9.5 million in FIFA grants for personal use, the country’s anti-corruption unit said Thursday. Christopher Andekin, Jafaru Fadanari Mamza and Rajan Zaka allegedly committed the crime in 2015, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said in a statement. “The money was a grant given by the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA, for the development of football in Nigeria,” it added.

EFCC lawyer Steve Odiase told reporters outside the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja that the case had been adjourned to a further hearing on November 28. The body’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, told AFP separately that the defendants pleaded not guilty, and were given bail on condition they surrendered their passports and paid a five-million-naira ($13,755, 12,000-euro) surety. Andekin is the director of administration and finance at the NFF while Mamza heads the finance and accounts department. Zaka is a cashier. The court case is the latest to hit the embattled NFF, which has been embroiled in a leadership struggle for control that has brought Nigeria to the brink of FIFA sanctions. Football’s governing body and its equivalent in Africa, CAF, have called for calm and reforms to heal the rifts in the running of the sport in Nigeria.

Vidal fined 800,000 euros for nightclub fight: Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal has been hit with 800,000 euros ($921,812) fine by a Munich court after being found guilty of assault during a nightclub fight last year. Munich district court fined the Chile international based on 80 days worth of wages, calculated to be 10,000 euros per day for the Barcelona player, who left Bayern Munich in August after three years with the German giants. The 31-year-old was not in court in Munich to hear the judge’s verdict as he played in Chile’s 1-0 win over Mexico on Wednesday, which “professionally prevented” his appearance in Bavaria, his lawyer said.