Drogba to take legal action over ‘libellous’ allegations

Chelsea great was accused by Daily Mail of misusing donations

LONDON: Footballer Didier Drogba said yesterday he would take legal action against Britain’s Daily Mail after it published allegations that most of the money raised by his charity in Britain was not going to “good causes”.

The newspaper reported that less than one per cent of over £1.7 million raised by Drogba’s charity in the past five years had gone to help children in the former Chelsea star’s homeland of Ivory Coast.

It claimed that most of the donations to the Didier Drogba Foundation had been spent on glitzy events for celebrity supporters or was sitting untouched in bank accounts.



Only £14,115 of the cash raised in Britain was reportedly spent on good causes, the paper alleged.

But Drogba — currently under contract with Canadian Major League Soccer team Montreal Impact — hit back, saying the report had caused an ‘untold amount of damage’.



“Despite sending legal letters and 67 pages worth of documents advising the Daily Mail that their information was factually incorrect and libellous, they have decided to ignore the facts so I am issuing legal proceedings against them,” the footballer said in a statement issued by his publicist in London. “There is no fraud, no corruption, no mismanagement, no lies, no impropriety.”

The Charity Commission, Britain’s official charities watchdog, confirmed it would investigate the claims after being contacted by the Mail, saying it had “serious regulatory concerns”. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2016.

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