
According to the letter sent to the Minister of Sports of Katanga province in DR Congo signed by the SLFA Finance officer Francis Kaikai, the money was meant for the purchasing of one way air tickets for seven Leone Stars players, visa fees and other taxes and to facilitate their return travelling expenses to their respective destinations back in Europe and USA.
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“He advised us the players should use the Zambian border area to travel out of DR Congo. Unfortunately the players were prevented from travelling through the border on the pretext of carrying Sierra Leone passports.
Theodald who travelled with the players abandoned them at the borders and we had to make fresh arrangements to repurchase their air tickets.”
The players are England based Mustapha Dumbuya, USA based trio of John Trye, Abdul Rahman Bangura and Michael Lahoud and the Sweden based duo of Alhaji Kamara and Alhassan Kamara.
Mohamed ‘Medo’ Kamara who plays for Bolton Wanderers in England was able to make it through the Zambian border because he presented his Finnish passport.
Kaikai has confirmed that the ministry of Sports of Katanga Province has compensated them with US$10,000 and has promised to investigate the matter.
He’s also claims that Theodald collected exorbitant cash from them for transportation for five days but only delivered for two days.
Theodald couldn’t be reached for his reaction at the time of the publication of this story as he had travelled to France
Meanwhile the Sports Writers Association of Sierra Leone (SWASAL) understands that the gate takings for the Leone Stars-DR Congo match was US$18, 795 but only US$11,000 was presented to the Leone Stars officers after the Congolese FA had deducted all match expenses.
The Congolese FA was completely in charge of running the game including the printing out and selling of tickets.