Wadii Jary, President of the Tunisian Football Federation (FTF), has been placed under a committal order in accordance with article 96 of the Penal Code. He faces up to ten years in prison.
President of the Tunisian Football Federation since 2012, Wadii Jary seemed untouchable.Despite a number of affairs that have shaken the body he has been at the helm of for years - including the 2019 Super cup case with a shadow company, Oravi World - the "good doctor" has held firm, benefiting from the unfailing support of FIFA, and in particular its now former General Secretary, Fatma Samoura.
Wadii Jary was finally taken into custody on Wednesday evening and placed under a committal order by the public prosecutor at the Tunis Court of First Instance. This followed a complaint from the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
At issue was the signing of a contract with Sghaier Zouita, former technical director of the FTF. "The function of technical director is governed by decree n°77-552 of June 20, 1977," explained ministry spokesman Chokri Hamda on IFM."He must be appointed by decree and not by contract. The federation has not respected Tunisian law." In plain English, the position was to be appointed by the Ministry, not the federation, which had awarded a much higher salary as a bonus.
Other Tunisian soccer personalities already under investigation.
This case was therefore likely to infringe article 96 of the Tunisian penal code:"Is punishable by ten years' imprisonment and a fine equal to the benefit received or the prejudice suffered by the administration any public or assimilated official, any director, member or employee of a local public authority, an association of national interest, a public industrial and commercial establishment [... ] entrusted by his function with the sale, purchase, manufacture, administration or custody of any goods whatsoever, who uses his capacity and thereby procures for himself or for a third party an unjustified advantage, causes prejudice to the administration or contravenes the regulations governing these operations with a view to achieving the aforementioned advantage or prejudice. "
Wadii Jary is also facing other financial complaints and court cases, and will be joined in the dock by other leading figures in Tunisian soccer who have been under investigation in recent times.
These include Walid Jalled (former president of AS Soliman), Mohamed Ali Aroui (former president of AS Rejiche) and one of his mentors, Mehdi Ben Gharbia (former president of CA Bizertin), all of whom have been summoned to appear before the courts for matters other than sports.
