BY PETER KANJERE:
The issue of gate ticketing fraud took another twist Friday when FDH Bank, whose cashiers were forced to surrender cash at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe a fortnight ago, severed its ties with Football Association of Malawi (Fam).
“Further to the above and to safeguard the integrity of the FDH Bank brand, the bank will no longer be involved with Football Association of Malawi as a partner,” reads the bank’s press release issued yesterday.
The game in question—the Airtel Top 8 semi-final between Nyasa Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers—grossed K39 million yet tickets were worth K44 million.
The teams accused Fam of being behind the missing money after the association allegedly produced two sheets, one indicating K44 million as the gross and the other K39 million.
The clubs’ officials hijacked the reconciliation of the gate proceeds, a development that has forced FDH to distance itself from the missing money.
It is unclear if the bank’s stance on Fam extends to other sponsorship agreements, including to the Flames.
Fam enlisted the services of the bank’s cashiers to handle the cash with Glory Management Firm tasked with reconciling the tickets during the Blantyre derby, but this did not happen as the hoodlums seized the process.
“Under very intimidating and unsecure circumstances, the stakeholders led by the club representatives demanded both the cash and the tickets for them to reconcile. As the situation got tense, key Fam, officials fled the scene and left the bank cashiers to deal with the situation on their own with total strangers. It is our considered view that this was done deliberately to confuse the situation for their own intentions,” the statement explains.
The bank adds the happenings at the stadium clearly shows that the bank’s cashiers were overpowered; hence, “were not given the time and space to balance
and reconcile the tickets they were given and the cash they collected as it used to be done in the previous games…where no shortage was reported.”
“After considering the circumstances under which gate collections and reconciliations are supposed to be undertaken, during our meeting of June 26 2018, with Fam, we advised Fam that we will no longer be involved in gate collections because we have no control over setting of parameters and conditions under which proper reconciliation can be carried out. Our staff is not safe in such environments,” reads the press release.
Fam has since partnered with National Integrated Technologies Limited, formerly Malswitch, to use a website-based ticket system as one way of curbing gate ticket fraud in tomorrow Airtel Top 8 final between Blue Eagles and Bullets at BNS.
The association’s President, Walter Nyamilandu, Friday insisted that FDH Bank’s press release is only referring to the gate ticketing issue.
“Let us not draw any conclusions at this stage. The sponsorship agreement for the Flames is still valid. We will be issuing a report in the course of the day of our findings,” Nyamilandu said.
Recently, a group of former football administrators and footballers, led by Charles Nyirenda, called for the Anti Corruption Bureau and fiscal police to step in the matter, wondering as to why it usually Fam-organised matches that are usually marred by such irregularities.
Leave a Reply