The former Ghana Football Association (GFA) president, Kwesi Nyantakyi has slapped Broadcast journalist Dan Kweku Yeboah and his media outlet Peace FM with a defamation lawsuit seeking 10 million cedis in damages.
Two online portals, Pulse Ghana and Ghanaweb have also been dragged to court by the former FIFA Executive Council member over the allegation of embezzling $2 million during his tenure as GFA President.
Nyantakyi, who was President of the GFA until resigning in 2018 following the Anas Exposé, argues that the allegations are false and "reckless and defamatory."
According to Nyantakyi's lawsuit, other media sites were pulled into the litigation because they used their platforms to spread Dan Kweku Yeboah's false accusations.
In a complaint filed, Nyantakyi argues that these outlets and Yeboah made defamatory remarks implicating him in theft from the GFA's accounts, causing severe damage to his reputation.
“President Kwesi Nyantakyi nkoa ko yee GFA Sika two million dollars ($2m) efee Unibank ko di ye” to wit: “President Kwesi Nyantakyi alone went to Unibank and withdrew GFA’s two million dollars and embezzled or misappropriated it for his personal benefit,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit argues that Yeboah’s statements, as reported by the named media outlets, were not only false but published with the intent to malign him, noting that these allegations have caused him undue public distress and professional harm.
"The statement of first defendant was a wicked, malicious, and deliberate falsehood published by first defendant to court hatred, opprobrium, public dislike and reduce the image of the Plaintiff in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society," the lawsuit continued.
Furthermore, the complaint supports Nyantakyi's argument that the statements were made without any effort to confirm the information from reliable sources, characterizing the outlets' publication of the claims as careless journalism.
He is suing the defendants through his attorney to obtain an official retraction and Gh¢10 million in damages.