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The allegation of bribery against Asante Kotoko was levelled by retired Referee Robert Tawiah Mensah who claims one Kofi Oduro who is believed to be an assistant of Dr. Kwame Kyei, the chairman of the Porcupine Warriors contacted him prior to the AshGold clash to connect him to the match officials for the titanic clash.
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According to Tawiah Mensah he travelled to Tamale with Kofi Oduro, affectionately called “Shishilla” to meet the referees and afterwards the latter paid GHC 8,000 to the match officials to influence the outcome of the game.
However, Asante Kotoko suffered a 1-0 defeat in the hands of the Miners at the Len Clay Sports Stadium, Obuasi.
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The retired referee indicated that he had to bring out the issue to the public domain because Kofi Oduro has threatened him.
"It's true that before the Ashanti Gold SC match with Kotoko, monies were given to the match officials by a Kotoko official. I was Techiman when the operations manager of Kotoko called 'Shishila' said he wanted to meet the Referees for the match who were coming from Tamale" Referee Mensah told Nimde3 FM
"He [Shishila] said he had money for the officials led by Referee Ali Alhassan, so a meeting should be held in Techiman."
"Shishila came to Techiman with a Nissan Visen numbered AS 2988 - 18 to talk so we can leave for Tamale to meet the referees for their match against Ashanti Gold"
"We met the Referees at the Tamale STC yard and gave them an undisclosed amount of money which was in a black polythene bag"
"He gave me 500 cedis for helping him to meet the referees because he said his team needed the points badly"
"After the match, he [Shishila] called me that he wants to retrieve his money from the referees because they failed to deliver as they promised"
"He called the referees and also told them he needs his 8000 cedis because they couldn't help his side to beat Ashanti Gold" he added
The claims of bribery against Asante Kotoko is a big blow to Ghana football especially during the period of normalising football in the country following the Number 12 scandal.
Several match officials were caught on camera receiving monies suspected to be bribe with the then GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi at the centre of the scandal in the Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ Number 12 documentary.
Domestic football activities in Ghana was halted for barely a year and resumed with the Normalisation Committee Special Competition.