The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has fined Cameroon’s football legend and current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot), Samuel Eto’o, the sum of $200,000 for an ethics breach, but freed him on charges related to allegations of match-fixing as the football governing body could not find sufficient evidence to pursue the allegations.

CAF had opened an investigation into Eto’o’s conduct in August last year after allegedly receiving written statements from several Cameroonian football stakeholders.

Eto’o was, last month, invited by a disciplinary panel set up by CAF and after its investigations, the panel said the four-time African Footballer of the Year had “seriously violated the principles of ethics, integrity and sportsmanship of CAF by signing a contract to be an ambassador for betting company 1XBET.”

The panel noted that Eto’o committed ethical breaches by signing the ambassadorial contract since 1XBET is the sponsor of the top two divisions of men’s professional football in Cameroon and both the men’s and women’s international sides, while the regulations of world football governing body, FIFA, state clearly that “people bound by its code are not allowed any involvement in betting related to football.”

A group representing amateur football clubs in Cameroon had last year, called on Eto’o to resign as Fecafoot President, expressing their concerns over his relationship with 1XBET and citing “grave irregularities” at Fecafoot.

The former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker was being investigated alongside Valentine Nkwain, president of newly promoted club side Victoria United, following a leaked phone conversation said to be of the pair discussing Victoria’s return to the top flight before promotion had been guaranteed.

However, both Eto’o and Nkwain have previously denied involvement in any conspiracy to manipulate results.

Earlier in the week, a group of football administrators, including former members of Fecafoot and the president of the country’s Professional Football League, wrote an open letter to CAF President Patrice Motsepe and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, urging them to speed up their investigations and pointing out that possible sanctions included a lifetime ban.

Part of the letter had said:

“Many stakeholders who have been in the game for several decades are leaving because of the abuses that have taken place over the past two years.”

Malian football legend and former captain of the national team, Seydou Keita, has opened a multimillion dollar mega Agro-Industrial Complex that will provide jobs to up to 10,000 people in the West African country.

Located in Sanankoroba in the region of Koulikoro, the Seydou Diogo Awa Agro-Industrial Complex is a limited company established on seven hectares of land.

Local media reports that the complex brings together six industrial production units, including a production unit for edible vegetable oil, oilcake and livestock feed, a shea butter production unit, a soap production unit, soap manufacturing unit and plastic cans.

“The SDA Complex will create more than 400 permanent jobs and more than 10,000 indirect jobs, for an investment of 14 billion CFA franc,” a local sports journal wrote.

“Keita’s mega investment was officially opened by the Transition President of Mali Colonel Assimi Goita who lauded the retired footballer for helping boost the country’s economy and inspiring the youth.

“A defensive midfielder, who could also slot in at central defence, Keita began his career in France with Marseille before stints at Lorient and Lens after which he further rose to prominence with a switch to Spain.

“He played at Sevilla for one season (2007-2008) before moving to Barcelona where he formed part of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering team that claimed 14 trophies in four years, including three La Liga and two Champions League crowns.

“The former Mali skipper made 102 appearances for the Eagles, between 2000 and 2015, managing 25 goals.”