Two members of Togo's interim football federation have been detained on suspicion of being involved with the fake national team that played an unsanctioned match against Bahrain this month, a security official said Friday. Meanwhile, former Togo coach Tchanile Bana - who was banned for his role as the organizer behind the scandal - is now “on the run,” said Col. Damehane Yark, commander of the Togolese National Paramilitary Gendarmerie. Yark said federation officials Antoine Folly and Doucoure Mamadou had been held for questioning Friday following a dawn raid. Folly was a member of the disciplinary commission investigating the Sept. 7 game and Mamadou is a special assistant to the federation's president. The pair are suspected of being behind fake documents sent to the Bahrain Football Association to set up the match, according to Yark. A group of unknown players, claiming to be Togo's national team, lost 3-0 to Bahrain in an international friendly at the National Stadium in Riffa. Togo's football federation and Sports Ministry both said the players and officials did not have permission to represent the country. In documents seen by the Associated Press, former Togo federation secretary general Kodzo Samlan was the apparent signatory on a letter to the BFA to accept the invitation to play the friendly game. Samlan denies writing the letter and says his signature was forged. It all came as a major embarrassment for the already-troubled Togo football body. The Togolese Football Federation was dissolved by FIFA last December and an interim panel was installed until a new body could be elected. Those elections are set for Oct. 16, just three weeks' time. FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke confirmed in Johannesburg Thursday that FIFA had been in touch with Togo football federation president Seyi Memene regarding the incident. Bana, whose whereabouts are now unknown, has admitted his role in the scandal and was banned for three years earlier this week. He said there were other football officials involved. Bana, Folly and Mamadou could now face criminal charges. A statement by Togolese Sports Minister Christophe Tchao confirmed that the Togo government has instructed the minister of justice to take legal action against Bana and his accomplices, although those accomplices are still to be named.
