10-year Ban For Guinean Referee Leno for Taking $500 Bribe

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has banned Guinean referee Baba Leno from all football-related activities for ten years with immediate effect.

The referee was one of the officials filmed by undercover Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas allegedly accepting a $500 bribe to influence a match he was going to officiate.

Unlike the others who continuously denied any wrongdoing at the CAF Disciplinary board hearing, Leno accepted that he was the person filmed receiving the money in Anas’ video.

The 10-year ban came as a surprise, but it seems the continental governing body has decided to give tougher punishments to curb the growing vice of taking bribes. They have opened a full investigation into all the officials filmed by Anas and promised to impose sanctions accordingly.

30 officials have already been sanctioned with 22 receiving lengthy bans. In Ghana alone, eight referees were banned last month with assistant referee David Laryea getting a life suspension, and the remaining each receiving a ten-year ban.

High profile referees like Kenyan Arden Marwa who was due to officiate in the World Cup in Russia haven’t been spared, which gives African football fans hope that teams might finally compete on equal footing.