Tunisia: why Wadii Jary has been remanded in custody
Wadii Jary, president of the Tunisian Football Federation (FTF), has been placed in pre-trial detention. Here is the reason.
Sport News Africa · Author profile ·
Listen to this story
Audio version in preparation · read aloud by your browser meanwhile
President of the Tunisian Football Federation since 2012, Wadii Jary seemed untouchable. Despite a number of scandals shaking the body he has headed for years – the case of the 2019 Super Cup involving a phantom company, Oravi World, being one example – the "good doctor" held on, enjoying the unwavering backing of FIFA, and in particular of its now former secretary general, Fatma Samoura.
Read more on this: Tunisia: 5 months from the World Cup, the sports ministry and the federation are in open conflict
Under pressure at home, Wadii Jary was finally taken into police custody on Wednesday evening, then placed in pre-trial detention by the public prosecutor of the Court of First Instance in Tunis. This followed a complaint from the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
At issue is the signing of a contract with Sghaier Zouita, the FTF's former technical director. "The post of technical director is governed by decree no. 77-552 of 20 June 1977," the ministry spokesman, Chokri Hamda, explained on IFM. "He must be appointed by decree, not by contract. The federation did not respect Tunisian law." In short, the appointment should have been made by the ministry and not the federation, which had also granted a much higher salary than the one provided for.
Other figures in Tunisian football already under investigation
This case could therefore have breached article 96 of the Tunisian penal code: "Any public official or equivalent, any director, member or employee of a local public authority, a national-interest association, or a public body of an industrial and commercial nature […] whose role involves the sale, purchase, manufacture, administration or safekeeping of any goods, who uses their position to obtain an unjustified advantage for themselves or a third party, causes harm to the administration, or breaches the rules governing these operations with a view to achieving the aforementioned advantage or harm, is punishable by ten years' imprisonment and a fine equal to the advantage received or the harm suffered by the administration."
Other complaints and legal cases of a financial nature also await Wadii Jary, who will find himself in the dock alongside other Tunisian football figures placed under investigation in recent times. They 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 summoned before the courts, in their cases over non-sporting matters.