Hearts threaten to drag Albert Commey to court over match-fixing allegation

The management of Accra Hearts of Oak is contemplating dragging Albert Commey to court to substantiate his allegation of match-fixing against the club.

According to a board member of the club, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, the Togbe Afede-led Hearts board consisted of men and women of high repute who would never condone any such thing and wondered how such spurious allegation could be made against them.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic in reaction to Commey's allegation that Hearts' last Premier League game against RTU in Accra, which they lost 1-4, was fixed, the outspoken board member described the claim as an irresponsible comment which must be proved in court.

''It is unfortunate that such an irresponsible statement will come from such a man who is supposed to have been attached to football for sometime now. Hearts of Oak is not a club of toddlers; it is the senior-most club we have in this country and the members of the Board of Directors alone should tell you that these are not people who will sit down and allow such a thing to happen. We won’t even allow management to attempt that because of the brand. We definitely will demand that he withdraws that irresponsible statement or meet us in court,” he furiously stated.

Legal action

The former Ghana Football Association (GFA) chairman said the club would officially write to the former Medeama SC and Aduana FC CEO to come out and substantiate his claim or apologise, else Hearts would resort to the law court to clear their hard-earned reputation.

''The management of the club will write to him and ask him to come out with evidence to support what he said, failure of which we shall definitely take him to court for defaming the club and its distinguished leadership,'' he stressed.

Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe further called on the GFA “to immediately strip Mr Commey of any position he holds in the association and also ensure that he does not hold any position in any football club in Ghana because his comment could bring the local game into disrepute.”

He said Hearts found the Ashantigold deputy CEO’s comment to be a serious one which must not be settled by the Ethics Committee because the culprit had the option of presenting his evidence to the committee, but instead decided to go public with such comment, making it appropriate for Hearts to seek redress in court.