Congolese Federation of Association Football (FECOFA) president Constant Omari has been arrested on corruption charges in Kinshasa. Omari is also a vice-president of the African Football Confederation and has been a member of FIFA’s all-powerful Council since 2015.
The most powerful man in football in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Omari was arrested late on Tuesday along with two other FECOFA officials, Theobald Binamungu and chief financial officer Roger Bondembe, and the country’s secretary general for sport Barthelemy Okito.
Local reports suggest a fifth man, the president of Congo’s Olympic committee, is also wanted but is on the run and the investigation relates to more than £700,000 of government money that was meant to pay for matches involving the national team and club sides in continental competition.
In response to the arrests, Congo’s national league, Linafoot, has taken the dramatic decision to suspend its championship.
In a statement on its website, Linafoot said the quartet were questioned by the “office of the special adviser to the president in the fight against corruption, Luzolo Bambi”.
It added that those arrested are “suspected of misappropriation of funds intended for the DRC football teams”.
