4, July 2024
Switzerland: Cameroonian who smuggled compatriots under guise of fake handball team expelled 0
A man who posed as the coach of Cameroon’s national handball team has been given a two year suspended sentence and barred from Switzerland for six years.
The Cameroonian national had arrived in January at Zurich airport along with 19 compatriots without visas. Upon arrival, the 45-year-old declared that he was traveling with his team to participate in the African Cup of Nations in Egypt.
All false, according to prosecutors. The man acknowledged the charges and the penalty demands and was therefore tried today by the District Court of Bülach in canton Zurich under the fast-track procedure.
The Cameroonian national was found guilty of qualified promotion of illegal entry and stay. The man, who has been in preventive detention since his arrival in Switzerland, will now be released and handed over to the Immigration Office, which will handle deportation.
Of the 19 Cameroonians who arrived with him in Switzerland, 17 later traveled to France to live a clandestine existence. Two remained in Switzerland, applied for asylum and in turn became untraceable.
The defendant said in court that he received 2,500 euros for his service. The man, a sports teacher, is actually employed by the Cameroonian handball association.
“We are in the realm of highly professional migration crime,” the single judge said in presenting the ruling. Real passports were used and many efforts were made to make the group look like a real national handball team. “In light of the confession, however, a two-year sentence seems appropriate,” the judge added.
In addition to the suspended sentence and expulsion from Switzerland, the sentence also includes the confiscation of 22 passports. These will be handed over to the cantonal police, who will use them to train officers at the document examination center.
Source: Swissinfo
5, July 2024
Eto’o fined $200,000 but escapes match-fixing charge 0
African football’s governing body has fined Samuel Eto’o, the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot), $200,000 for an ethics breach, but found insufficient evidence to pursue a charge related to allegations of match-fixing.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) opened an investigation into Eto’o’s conduct in August last year after receiving “written statements from several Cameroonian football stakeholders”.
A disciplinary panel found, external that the four-time African Footballer of the Year had “seriously violated the principles of ethics, integrity and sportsmanship” of Caf by signing a contract to be an ambassador for betting company 1XBET.
Eto’o’s lawyers have said they will appeal against the verdict.
1XBET sponsors the top two divisions of men’s professional football in Cameroon and both the men’s and women’s international sides, while the regulations of Fifa, football’s global governing body, state that people bound by its code are not allowed any involvement in betting related to football.
Last July, a group representing amateur clubs in Cameroon called on Eto’o to resign, highlighting their concern over the 43-year-old’s relationship with 1XBET and citing “grave irregularities” at Fecafoot.
Match-fixing allegations
While Eto’o has been found guilty of breaching Caf statutes when it comes to ethics, he has escaped a sanction related to match-fixing, with the disciplinary panel ruling that “as it stands, there is insufficient proof”.
The former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker was being investigated alongside Valentine Nkwain, president of newly promoted club side Victoria United, following a leaked phone conversation said to be of the pair discussing Victoria’s return to the top flight before promotion had been guaranteed.
Both have previously denied involvement in any conspiracy to manipulate results.
The latest judgement by Caf is unlikely to quell dissent in Cameroon related to Eto’o’s running of football in the country.
Earlier this week a group of administrators, including former members of Fecafoot and the president of the country’s Professional Football League, wrote an open letter to Caf president Patrice Motsepe and Fifa boss Gianni Infantino, urging them to speed up their investigations and pointing out that possible sanctions included a lifetime ban.
The letter said “many stakeholders who have been in the game for several decades are leaving because of the abuses that have taken place over the past two years.”
Source: BBC