The Confederation of African Football, the governing body for football in Africa, accused the International Olympic Committee of “disrespect” following the IOC’s reprimand of Caf’s president Issa Hayatou for receiving payments from the now-defunct ISL agency. ISL, which distributed Fifa World Cup television rights and was also a marketing partner of the IOC, collapsed with debts of $300m (€224m) in 2001.
Fifa executive committee and IOC member Hayatou admitted he received 100,000 French francs from ISL in 1995 for Caf’s 40th anniversary. The ethics commission said the payment represented a “conflict of interests.” However, Caf vice-president Almamy Kabele Camara said Hayatou “never received the said sum for his personal account” and therefore he should have been afforded the “benefit of doubt.”
The confederation said that not all of the “documents and evidence” were considered during the hearing and added that the case had illustrated “disrespect and a lack of consideration of the IOC towards the pan-African institution.”
The IOC will take no further action against Hayatou and International Association of Athletics Federations president Lamine Diack, who was also warned by the IOC ethics commission after admitting to receiving money from ISL.