Football
Michael Oti Adjei, Special to ESPN 6y

Ghana bans 61 referees for corruption

The Referees Association of Ghana (RAG) says it has exonerated 14 and suspended or banned 61 referees because there was no evidence beyond reasonable doubt to substantiate allegations of corruption and bribery against them.

RAG became the latest body on Monday to issue long bans to Ghanaian referees caught up in a documentary by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, which alleged widespread corruption and bribery among referees in Ghana.

CAF and FIFA have already banned the referees on the list of the Referees Association of Ghana.

Three months after the allegations first emerged, RAG says it has found 61 referees guilty on charges of bribery and corruption.

The body has handed out 10-year suspensions to 53 referees and banned another eight for life after studying footage from the investigation, and 14 referees who appeared in the video were deemed to have no case to answer.

"In some cases, their names were just mentioned and at no point do we see them do anything wrong," RAG chairman Joe Debrah explained to KweséESPN.

"They are not caught on video taking money, negotiating to fix a game or doing anything conclusive enough for us to ban or suspend them and unless we have evidence beyond doubt, we can't suspend them."

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