CAF Official Denies Sexual Assault Allegations, Claims Moroccan Conspiracy at CHAN 2022

The Beninese is accused of having tried to sexually assault a Moroccan employee of the company in charge of providing the video assistant refereeing equipment. "They talk about inappropriate behavior. I was sanctioned for five years without being given the right to defend myself or to confront the complainant. I don’t know her. I don’t know what they’re talking about," Sohoundé Pépéripé said in an interview with the Algerian newspaper El Khabar cited by TSA.

The CAF media officer believes he was the victim of a setup. For him, his statements on January 14, on the sidelines of the birthday party organized in his honor in Constantine (Algeria) where he indicated that Algeria deserved to host the 2025 CAN, would be at the origin of these allegations.

The video of the ceremony, which went viral on social media, would have been badly received by Moroccan Internet users. "That same night, I ran into Moroccans who told me: you’ve become a social media star and you’ve congratulated our enemies," Pépéripé confides, suspecting Morocco of being behind this affair.

"When there is a case like this, we always start with a warning or a reprimand, there is a scale of sanctions. I was directly suspended. This is not normal. We need to understand what happened. Everything was well orchestrated," added the Beninese sports journalist. And he concluded: "There is a conflict between Algerians and Moroccans. And I supported the Algerians. That’s the truth."