The conclusion of a report by the Charity Commission is expected soon as they today issued an update to an ongoing investigation into the Didier Drogba Foundation.
The investigation was launched after an article by The Daily Mail published in April claimed that only a fraction of the money raised by Drogba's foundation was being given to charities in Africa.
Drogba was said to be furious at the accusations and issued a statement where he made it perfectly clear that he would sue The Daily Mail for their allegations:
They have already caused an untold amount of damage by contacting all of my sponsors, my colleagues and many of my friends who generously helped the foundation with donations, and raise doubts in their mind about whether to continue to support us in the future.
I come from a poor family and I had to work hard to get where I am today but this would mean nothing to me if I wasn’t ale to give back to my country, my continent, and my community.
Despite their claims, there is no fraud, no corruption, no mismanagement, no lies, no impropriety.
Their attempts to destroy the work of the foundation will not deter me and will not stop me continuing the work we have begun.
The Daily Mail claimed that less than 1% of the £1.7m that Drogba raised ( was actually going to charities in Africa, and believed that the rest was "languishing" in overseas bank accounts. When presented legal documents by Drogba's representatives, they claimed that they were not satisfied with the response and stood by the claims made by their journalists.
The Charity Commission have been investigating the matter all summer long, and outlined their involvement in their initial statement:
We aim to address concerns about the administration of the charity and the oversight provided by trustees, all of whom appear to live abroad, as well as allegations that the charity has 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.
An update today confirmed that a case report will be published when the matter is concluded, which is believed to be within the next month.
It is quite a claim by The Daily Mail, but they are confident in their case against Drogba and now we must wait for the outcome and the publication of the case report.
