Didier Drogba files suit against Daily Mail over charity allegations
Chelsea and Cote d'Ivoire legend Didier Drogba, now with MLS's Montreal Impact, has filed suit against the U.K.'s Daily Mail over allegations that a paltry one percent all of the £1.7 million ($2.4 million) of U.K. contributions to The Didier Drogba Foundation have been put towards their intended charitable use.
In a statement issued via social media, Drogba called the accusations "factually incorrect and libelous," going on to say that "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
In the Daily Mail report, Drogba is alleged to have spent £439,321 on "lavish fundraising parties, where the Princess and other famous guests enjoyed champagne and were entertained by leading pop stars" with hundreds of thousands more "left languishing in accounts." The report goes on to assert other examples of misappropriated funds, and claims to have handed the U.K. Charity Commission a "dossier of evidence" and that the Commission has since launched a probe into the Foundation's U.K. branch.
In his statement, Didier Drogba accused the Mail journalists of "jeopardising the lives of many thousands of African children." Launched in the U.K. in 2009, The Didier Drogba Foundation is run in Cote d'Ivoire but also registered in the U.K. In response to the Mail's claims, Drogba says he spent his own sponsorship earnings first and planned to use U.K. fundraising money for future projects, citing the Foundation's accomplishments such as building a mobile clinic, investing in orphanages, and funding the purchase of school bags, books and a dialysis machine.
The U.K. Charity Commission issued a statement, saying that it was in the early stages of opening a case to assess "concerns about the administration of the charity and the oversight provided by trustees," adding that "all these issues merit further investigation by the Commission."
