The charges against the Cairo-based CAF, Hayatou and El Amrani relate to a broadcast rights deal with Lagardère Sports, which the company were allegedly given without a formal tender process as required by Egyptian law.

CAF accused the ECA of conducting a "trial by media", claiming the referral of the case was made "following only a few days of investigations and without any communication or engagement whatsoever with the CAF".

They have labelled the charges as "unsubstantiated", "groundless" and "without merit" and have vowed to "vigorously defend its position, its rights and reputation using all legal means available under international law".

African football's governing body also blasted the ECA and the prosecutor for the timing of the move just four days before Hayatou is due to face Ahmad Ahmad in the CAF Presidential election in Addis Ababa.

CAF signed a deal with Lagardère Sports, appointed marketing and media agency for all of Africa's major footballing events, in June 2015.

The deal includes the Africa Cup of Nations, their flagship tournament.

According to the CAF, the agreement "represented an enormous increase in the revenues guaranteed to CAF for its marketing and media rights, which secures significant and guaranteed funds for the benefit of African football over the next 12 years".

"Further, with an unrivalled track record in delivering African football for over 22 years, Lagardère Sports is also an agency that can deliver and execute CAF’s vast programme of events - including the Africa Cup of Nations, the African Nations Championship and the African Champions League - such is the scale and complexity of the events across the whole of the African continent," the CAF statement said.

"Any suggestion whatsoever of impropriety in relation to the commercial agreement is utterly without foundation and completely and vehemently denied. 

"CAF will vigorously defend its position, its rights and reputation using all legal means available under international law."

In response to the accusations levelled against the governing body and their two most senior officials, CAF claim the bid submitted by another company, Presentation Advertising Agency, came in September 2016 - 15 months after the contract with Lagardère Sports was signed.

It was claimed the company submitted their attempt at acquiring the rights at the time of the negotiations with Lagardère Sports and was a "superior offer".

This has been dismissed by the CAF, who insist their bid "materially and substantially fell short of the financial, technical, execution and other requirements commonly expected and required for deals of this nature in the sports media industry".

"Presentation’s belated offer was to acquire outright the marketing and media rights held by CAF, which were never for sale and the very holding of such agency rights by Presentation would be in violation of its own articles of association," the statement added. 

"As has been clearly established by the Egyptian Competition Authority in the past in one of its own public reports, the agreement between CAF and Lagardère Sports is an agency agreement not a sale agreement; but the ECA’s latest media campaign presents allegations on the basis of the agreement being a sale agreement."

The accusations and the subsequent case only, however, heighten the pressure on Hayatou, an honorary International Olympic Committee member, as he prepares for arguably the toughest challenge to his Presidency he has ever faced.

The 70-year-old has led CAF since 1988 and is bidding for an eighth term.

Ahmad, head of the Madagascar Football Association, is gaining support within the CAF membership and it is thought the election will be close.