DR Congo FA asked to justify $2m 2013 Afcon budget

15 Mar 2013 8:21:00 PM

The Democratic Republic of Congo Ministry of Sports has asked the country’s football federation to account for funds allocated to the national team at the 2013 Afcon

The Democratic Republic of Congo Ministry of Sports revealed on Friday it gave $2 million (€1.532m) to the Football Federation to cover costs for the national team’s participation at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and was yet to receive any justification on how the money was spent by officials.

Consequently, the body has been given few days to provide a detailed accountability, amid suspicion of mismanagement of resources, which has fuelled rifts between governments and FAs of the region.

“Beside the funds we provided for preparations, we disbursed $40,000 (€30,000) as match bonus for each player, totalling $920,000 (€704,000) for the 23 players who went for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations,” said Barthelemy Okito, secretary general for DR Congo Ministry of Sports.

“The rest of the funds, $1.5 million, were handed to the head coach, his assistants, seven people in all, through the Football Federation. But we are yet to get any feedback of their expenditure and we need to have this as soon as possible,” he said.

The Leopards, coached by Frenchman Claude Le Roy, failed to progress from the group stage at the South Africa 2013, but have now shifted focused to the upcoming World Cup qualifiers and will play host to leaders of their Group I Libya in Kinshasa on March 24.

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