Ten more Caribbean officials named in bribery debacle

By Andrew Warshaw

October 26 – Ten more Caribbean officials are to be investigated for their roles in the FIFA cash-for-votes scandal, plunging the region into even more disgrace.

FIFA announced today that its Ethics Committee had opened proceedings over possible violations of the Code of Ethics in relation to the infamous Caribbean Football Union (CFU) meeting in Trinidad on May 10 and 11 that led to former Presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam being banned for life and former FIFA vice president Jack Warner resigning.

Bin Hammam is still appealing.

The 10 have been named as Raymond Guishard and Damien Hughes from Anguilla, Everton Gonsalves and Derrick Gordon from Antigua and Barbuda, Lionel Haven from Bahamas, Patrick John and Philippe White from Dominica, Vincent Cassell and Tandica Hughes from Montserrat and Oliver Camps from Trinidad and Tobago.

The announcement comes almost two weeks after 15 other Caribbean members were handed short term bans, fines or reprimands.

Those sanctions came almost five months to the day since they and their colleagues were allegedly offered $40,000 (£26,000/€30,000) to support Bin Hammam in his bid to oust Sepp Blatter as President of world football’s governing body.

It is still not clear exactly who took the money and who paid it back, however.

The 10 new cases are from six of the 24 CFU countries who were present at the meeting, where Cuba was the only absentee.

At least one Caribbean representative reported the whole thing to outgoing CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer (pictured), the whistleblower who subsequently referred the matter to FIFA.

The new cases will be submitted to the Ethics Committee at its next meeting in mid-November though, in all likelihood, any guilty verdicts will once again result in minor sanctions.

There is already mounting criticism of the token punishments handed out last time by the Ethics Committee to those who either took or were offered bundles of cash yet who are, or soon will be, allowed to continue to serve their countries within FIFA.

When he announced his eagerly awaited anti-corruption proposals last week, Blatter conveniently sidestepped a question from insideworldfootball over why the penalties handed down to the 15 Caribbean members were so flimsy, why no details had been made public over exactly who took what, and in whose hands the returned money was now.

“If you go to jail and then are released, society takes you back,” said Blatter, who declined all further comment.

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