Namibian rugby union (NRU) president Dirk Conradie and his entire executive committee have been barred from attending the World Cup in France, organisers confirmed on Sunday.
Conradie has been accused of complicity in the irregular sale of World Cup tickets, a charge he denies.
The news was first broken in the Namibian newspaper and was later confirmed by International Rugby Board spokesperson Greg Thomas.
He said: ”I can confirm that he [Conradie] has been suspended from proceedings and has not been invited to the tournament.”
Thomas also said that ”a handful of others”, taken to mean the executive committee, had also had their invitations withdrawn.
The move came following a report by IRB judicial officer Graeme Mew, who recommended the ban.
An appeal has been lodged and a decision is pending.
Conradie was accused by former NRU financial director Pieter Fick of selling â,¬280 000 worth of tickets at a 35% profit.
Thomas said a number of tickets, not including those that had been given free to members of the Namibian team, have been revoked, a move that could leave fans, who have bought tickets from the NRU, in limbo.
Conradie claims Fick has a personal vendetta against him after he was asked to accept a different post at the NRU but chose instead to resign.
”He [Fick] came to provoke me at my office and I told him to get out. He was recording the whole conversation as I threatened that I would shoot him,” Conradie told the Namibian.
”He laid a case of assault and I also laid a case of trespassing as he came into my office without permission.”
Conradie said Fick wrote to the IRB accusing the NRU of several irregularities and financial mismanagement.
He admitted that monies were paid into the account of a local law firm, of which he is a partner, but denied there were any irregularities. He also denied that the monies paid into the law firm’s account had accumulated â,¬6 000 of interest.
Conradie announced he will hold a press conference Sunday to explain the circumstances surrounding the selling of the World Cup tickets.
Namibia were beaten 32-17 by Ireland on Sunday. – Sapa-AFP