Former Ghana international goalkeeper, Abubakari Damba, Tuesday said he had instituted moves to sue Declan Hill, a Canadian journalist, over allegations that he was in the middle of a match-fixing scandal at the 2006 World Cup in a match between Ghana and Brazil.
Hill accused Damba, in his book published in Germany Tuesday, that Damba acted as a go-between for an Asian betting syndicate and the Black Stars to throw the round of 16 match against Brazil played in Dortmund 27 June.
Speaking in a rage, the former goalkeeper said he was upset about the allegations and would seek redress in the law courts to clear his name and restore his hard -earned reputation.
“This is a devious attempt by Hill to besmirch my name but I will not take in lying down. I have had talks with my lawyers to sue him,” Damba said in a statement to Ghanasoccernet.
He said: “This guy approached me suspiciously after I had an interview at Joy FM claiming he wanted to help me. “He was just desperately trying to tie me to a betting syndicate and he had to come out with this rubbish […] He thinks he can just come and write anything including falsehoods and get away with it. It won’t happen.”
The former Black Stars goalkeeper said Hill’s action had brought great pain and difficulty to him, his family and country, adding that the Canadian would have to answer for his folly.”
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) had dismissed the allegation as out of tune with the aspirations of the players during the World cup but added that it would investigate it.
Randy Abbey, spokesman for the GFA, said it did not make sense for players who stood to harvest over US$ 700,000 to agree to throw a match for only US$ 30,000.
Meanwhile the German Football Federation said it was looking into the allegations made by the Canadian journalist even though they were aware of no evidence of m atch-fixing.
Hill wrote in his book that large sums of money had been bet on Brazil winning by at least two goals and a former Ghana international acted as an intermediary.
Ghana lost the last 16 round match 3-0 in Dortmund 27 June which put Brazil into the quarter-finals where they lost to France.
Hill said three years of research had shown that a former Ghana international Ab ubakari Damba had acted as the middleman between Ghana’s players and the head of a betting syndicate in Bangkok, Thailand.
