PRETORIA: South African police on Monday denounced media reports that the Egyptian Confederations Cup team had been robbed of cash by prostitutes they had invited to their hotel room.
There were no prostitutes. We don t know where this information came from. We are doing an internal investigation to find out who provided media with such information, deputy police commissioner Andre Pruis told AFP.
The Egyptian delegation rejected shameful media reports that the missing cash – some $2,400 – may have been a party gone sour after the team s historic 1-0 win over Italy.
There was no evidence on the footage whatsoever to indicate that any women other than authorized hotel staff entered into the rooms allocated to the Egyptian delegation, Pruis told journalists at post-tournament briefing.
No suspect has been identified and the hotel staff members who have access to the rooms during the period in question have been completely cleared through polygraph testing.
There was also no evidence of alcohol use, he added.
Egyptian ambassador to South Africa Mohamed Zayed said the theft of 19,000 rand was not reported by the team but by a FIFA official accompanying the team.
We never considered this a big issue because it happens everywhere. What happens is that someone made it into a big issue, said Zayed.
The head of the Egypt Football Association Mahmoud Taher demanded a formal apology from newspapers that published the allegations and threatened legal action, according to media reports, before leaving South Africa.
Hookers 5 Egypt 0 is how one paper summed up the affair.
The team bowed out 3-0 to United States in the group stage. -AFP
