FECOFOOT: How CAF financed Mayolas' personal account
Sentenced in Congo to life imprisonment for laundering and embezzlement, Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas, president of the Congolese football federation currently at large, had received bank transfers from the Confederation of African Football directly into his account in the months prior to his indictment. A situation that raises serious questions of ethics and governance.
Philemon MBALE · Author profile ·
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Audited by the FIFA Finance Committee last autumn, the Congolese Football Federation saw the bank account through which the international federation’s funds were channeled blocked in December. A decision made by the same FIFA following the damning report of its committee.
Unable to receive money from Zurich for its operations, other than enough to cover the employees' salaries provided he had proof of each payslip, the president of FECOFOOT turned to CAF with complete discretion.
Nearly $27,000 in two installments
Already under investigation for money laundering, embezzlement, forgery, and the use of forgeries, notably in connection with the use of subsidies intended for women’s football during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mayolas has changed the details of the federation’s bank account to his own. A maneuver carried out just after the blockage.
Thus, on December 29, 2025, and January 2, 2026, CAF will transfer $1,985 and $24,985 respectively to Mayolas' personal account, in accounting documents consulted by Sport News Africa. No specific supporting documents were given even though the president privately assured that this was a way to pay the employees of FECOFOOT.
However, these payments raise a lot of questions since the CAF had been warned by an audit carried out by PwC urging it to stop direct transfers to federation presidents.
In fact, how could a leader currently under investigation for financial malfeasance be the personal beneficiary of payments originally intended for his federation?
What was the director of CAF’s member associations division doing?
Since other FECOFOOT officials were under investigation (the general secretary and the treasurer), two internal sources at CAF explain that the payments should have gone back – in case of justification – to a member of the Executive Committee of the federation who was not targeted by any accusation.
Then sentenced to life imprisonment, Mayolas did not surrender to the verdict and fled the country. A warrant of arrest was issued against him while the State contacted Interpol to internationalize the warrant. A dramatic situation for Congolese football that places CAF even more in a delicate situation: how does Sarah Mukuna, the director of the member associations division, let the institution directly fund a man now wanted for money laundering and embezzlement?
The responsibility also extends to the Finance Commission chaired by Fouzi Lekjaa even if the latter is not the person who made the transfers in question.
As for FIFA, its lack of communication and overall opacity in dealing with the issue of FECOFOOT did not make it possible to really know what was happening.
Yet another blunder that the international body hopes to repair by having announced in recent weeks a disciplinary procedure against Mayolas, the secretary general (Badji Mombo Wantete), and the treasurer (Raoul Kanda) through its Ethics Commission.