Ashantigold SC President, Dr Kwaku Frimpong Banned For Ten Years From Football Over Match Manipulation

The President of Ashantigold Sporting Club, Dr Kwaku Frimpong has been banned for ten years from football-related activities.

He was banned by the Ghana Football Association Disciplinary Committee over his involvement in match manipulation.

While Dr Frimpong has been fined GHS 100k, Ashantigold SC has been demoted to the Division Two league after they were found guilty of match manipulation in the 2020/21 Ghana Premier League Matchday 34 game against Inter Allies FC.

The demotion will take effect from the 2022/23 league season.

BRIEF FACTS

On 17th July 2021, Ashantigold SC played Inter Allies FC in the 2020/21 Ghana Premier League Matchday 34 game at the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium. After the match, there were several reports within the local and international football space that the match was fixed to fulfill a correct score of 5 goals to 1 in favor of Ashantigold SC. The match eventually ended in 7 goals to 0 against Inter Allies FC.

A video extract of the match circulated on various social media platforms showing a player of Inter Allies FC scoring two own goals and also showed a lackluster attitude of players on the field of play.

Sportradar, a Swiss based international company’s fraud detection system, a unique service that identifies betting related manipulation in sports globally for a number of leagues through its vast amounts of data, reported that there was strong pre match betting and telltale signs of fraud on the said match.

The GFA Compliance & Integrity Office together with the GFA Prosecutors investigated the matter and in accordance with Article 34(5) of the GFA Premier League Regulations preferred charges against the two clubs and referred Ashantigold SC to the Disciplinary Committee.

Evidence of Communications Before the Match

The prosecution revealed that before the match was played and between 12th of July 2021 and 19th July 2021, Dr Kwaku Frimpong called Nii Amoah on two occasions. Within the same period, Nii Amoah also contacted Dr Kwaku Frimpong 6 times whilst Nii Amoah contacted Emmanuel Frimpong 9 times. The prosecution showed that on 12th July 2021, around 4:57 pm Dr Kwaku Frimpong called Emmanuel Nii Amoah and expressed his interest in the match in question.

During the discussions, Dr Kwaku Frimpong offered Emmanuel Nii Amoah an amount of GHc10,000 to manipulate the match to achieve a correct score of 5-1 to advance his betting objective.

Dr Kwaku Frimpong then indicated that he will instruct someone (who was later found out to be Emmanuel Frimpong, the CEO of Ashantigold SC) to send the money.

Thereon, Emmanuel Nii Amoah, frequently contacted Dr Kwaku Frimpong to obtain more information on the details of Dr Kwaku Frimpong’s interest in manipulating the match. The prosecution provided detailed call records between the parties to support this claim.

The Committee notes that though Dr Kwaku Frimpong and Emmanuel Frimpong, the CEO of Ashantigold SC had stated that they did not know Nii Amoah and has never dealt with him, however the phone records showed that the two Ashgold SC club officials have been in communications with Nii Amoah on a number of occasions as regards the match.

Evidence of Mobile Money Transactions Between the Parties Before the To explain further, prosecution gave evidence regarding a detailed account of call records and mobile money records of Emmanuel Nii Amoah, Dr Kwaku Frimpong (President of Ashantigold) and Isaac Quist (the Mobile Money Merchant).

Prosecution stated as follows: that on the Thursday, 15th July, 2021 around 10:00 am, Isaac Quist, Mobile Money Agent, received an amount of GHC10,000 which was sent in two batches of GHc5,000 within a minute from Prince Kwarteng Mobile Money Merchant in Obuasi.

According to prosecution, Emmanuel Frimpong later called Nii Amoah around 10:23 am to confirm receipt of the money. The money was disbursed from Isaac Quist to Nii Amoah as follows: Isaac Quist sent an amount of GHc2000 on the 15th July 2021 to Nii Amoah. On 18th of July 2021, Isaac Quist again sent an amount of GHc5,000 to Nii Amoah, and another GHc2,194 on the 22nd of July 2021.