African and Ivorian football star, Didier Drogba, on Thursday, threaten to take legal action over accusations that his charity set up to help children in Africa had spent less than one percent of money raised on worthwhile projects.
According to The Daily Mail, which was Britain’s second biggest selling newspaper, there were reports on their website that just 14,000 pounds out of 1.7 million pounds ($2.4 million) donated to the Didier Drogba Foundation had been used to benefit children in his homeland Ivory Coast.
Britain’s Charity Commission was said to be investigating the charity which was set up in Britain in 2009 by Drogba, citing “serious regulatory concerns”.
Drogba, who now plays for Canadian Major League Soccer club Montreal Impact, has denied the allegations in a strongly worded statement in which he said he would issue legal proceedings against the newspaper for “incorrect and libellous” information.
Drogba said in a statement directed to his 1.1 million Twitter and 3 million Instagram followers respectively: “Despite their claims, there is no fraud, no corruption, no mismanagement, no lies, no impropriety”.
Statement : pic.twitter.com/RP1dUd73Rb
— Didier Drogba (@didierdrogba) April 14, 2016
Drogba, 38, founded the charity in Ivory Coast in West Africa in 2007 and its British arm was launched two years later.
According to the Daily Mail story, the charity had spent almost half a million pounds since 2009 on fundraising parties attended by celebrities including footballers Pele and David Beckham and Swiss tennis star Roger Federer.
The Charity Commission said it had opened a case to assess concerns about the administration of the charity, the role of trustees based abroad, and allegations that the foundation had provided misleading information to donors and the public.
“Further, the charity has raised and accumulated significant sums of money that have not yet been spent and further information is required over the plans to spend those funds,” chief operating officer David Holdsworth said in a statement.
Chelsea legend, Drogba, who was voted by Chelsea fans as the club’s greatest ever player and has twice been named African Player of the Year, has also been a United Nations goodwill ambassador since 2007.
Drogba told British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, Montreal, Canada, that all charity projects so far had been funded by his own sponsorship deals, rather than money from British fundraisers.
“I’m responsible for this money; I’m not going to spend it just to spend it,” he said.
