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Wadie Jary, the former president of the Tunisian Football Federation (FTF), has been sentenced to four years in prison on corruption charges.<\/b><\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the country’s sports ministry told the AFP news agency that the conviction related to an “unlawful contract between the FTF and a technical director” during Jary’s time in office.<\/p>\n
The 52-year-old’s lawyers say he will appeal against the verdict.<\/p>\n
Jary was first elected head of the FTF in 2012 and faced multiple allegations of impropriety during his reign, including match-fixing, financial misconduct and money laundering, all of which he denied.<\/p>\n
Local media also reported on disputes between Jary and the sports ministry, while in January 2021 he received a four-year ban from the Tunisian National Olympic Committee<\/a> after it claimed he had “breached national and international Olympic ethics codes”.<\/p>\n Despite that ban, Jary was elected to the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) executive committee just two months later.<\/p>\n He remained on the the committee while awaiting trial, with Caf general secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba telling the BBC last year that the organisation was “not protecting crooks”<\/a> and would make a decision on Jary once a verdict was delivered by the Tunisian legal system. <\/p>\n After the charges against him emerged, Jary was taken into custody in October 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n