South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan was arrested Wednesday on charges of fraud and theft involving R1.3 million ($72,000), accused of misusing SAFA’s resources for personal benefit, according to police.
Jordaan, who led South Africa’s bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, denied the allegations in court.
“The allegations are that between 2014 and 2018, the president of SAFA used the organisation’s resources for his personal gain,” stated a police report.
The charges claim Jordaan hired a private security firm for personal protection and a public relations company without SAFA board approval.
Reports suggest the PR firm was hired to manage reputational damage following a 2017 allegation of sexual assault by a South African singer and former lawmaker, which Jordaan denied.
Police described his arrest as part of an “intensive investigation by the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation based in Johannesburg into allegations of R1.3 million fraud and theft.”
Jordaan, SAFA’s president since 2013 and re-elected for a third term in 2022, was arrested alongside SAFA’s chief financial officer, Gronie Hluyo, and businessman Trevor Neethling, head of the PR firm named in the charges.
Both Hluyo and Neethling denied the allegations.
The court released all three on bail.
AFP
