By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – Two months after its first meeting, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football’s (CONCACAF) new integrity committee, set up to clean up the body after an unsavoury period of blood-letting, is beginning getting to grips with the misdemeanours of the past.
The new committee, which reflects FIFA’s own attempts at reform, includes representatives from each of the confederation’s three areas – North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The election of Jeffrey Webb (pictured top, second left) of the Cayman Islands to replace Jack Warner as CONCACAF President has been widely applauded but integrity committee chairman David Simmons (pictured top, second right) of Barbados said it would take time to come up with clear and concise proposals for a way forward.
Hinting at how much work was involved to right the wrongs of the previous regime, Simmons said: “It must be appreciated that our terms of reference cover a broad spectrum of activities.
“The lawyers assigned to assist the committee have gone about their task in a very thorough and assiduous manner.
“That task involves the perusal of a vast amount of documentation, identifying its relevance to particular terms of reference, and marshalling and collating it before it can be placed before us.
“It is painstaking, detailed work.”
In addition, Simmons said that the lawyers are also interviewing potential witnesses to give evidence to the committee.
“We cannot make findings of fact in the absence of cogent evidence, so the time spent in unearthing evidence at this early stage is time well spent,” he explained.
“Our goal, however, is the production of a fair and balanced report in the spring of 2013.”
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