By Paul Nicholson
September 2 – The Cayman Islands have been plunged into new football controversy and allegations of election rigging and financial irregularities. With Cayman Islands and former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb currently being held in the US on corruption charges, back in Cayman the process of healing has been derailed.
Cayman’s Anti-Corruption Commission has confirmed to local media that it is looking into the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) after auditors raised concerns about suspicious transactions. At the same time there were accusations that election rules were being bent to prevent rivals running against incumbent office holders.
Renard Moxam, currently director of Cayman’s national football teams, and Sharon Roulstone, claim they had been unfairly ruled out of the elections for failing to have enough nominations to stand. This was after having been informed by acting general secretary Paul Macey that their election paperwork was in order and that they were eligible to run.
Moxam and Roulstone were told of the decision by the CIFA executive committee five days after their submissions but after the deadline for election submissions.
This electoral decision and the audit has in turn attracted the attention of government sports minister Osbourne Bodden who said that the government would withhold its $130,000 annual grant to the organisation. He has called on CIFAto allow free and fair elections.
Bodden had previously been a strong supporter of football and CIFA, particularly around the CONCACAF U15 championship, the first two editions of which Cayman had hosted.
The CIFA elections at the weekend saw the re-election of Bruce Blake as first vice president and acting president (Webb still officially holds the position of president although he is currently suspended by FIFA) for a four year term. Blake was adamant that CIFA had carried out its responsibilities correctly and that the association would co-operate fully with any investigation.
Blake said that CIFA is governed by its constitution. “Once you throw away your constitution and try to appoint positions or dictate who should be in positions, we are going down a very dangerous road,” he said.
“What happens next? Once that is done to football, will they then turn to other associations or other sports? It is a dangerous precedent to set.”
Moxam and Roulstone issued a statement saying that the decision was “legally incorrect but also taken without any regard to conflicts of interest and, more importantly, the best interests of CIFA and its members.”
Blake countered: “It is the members that make the nominations. If the members deem Renard fit, they would have nominated him.
“The minimum requirement is four members – two to propose and two to second. If you are the person to lead football and you think you have the support, you would have gotten those clubs to nominate and second you.”
Moxam, who submitted nomination forms supported by two clubs, appears to have been caught by an interpretation of the rule that would require him to have support from four clubs.
If the election debacle wasn’t bad enough, the financial situation compounds the questions being asked. CIFA’s accounts have not been signed off by their auditors and were not ready to be presented to members at the general meeting. Blake said that a special congress would be called to present the accounts once the outstanding issues were dealt with.
Auditor Philip Rankin said certain transactions had raised red flags during his firm’s audit of the association’s accounts and that as a result the suspicious transactions had been referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission for review.
Regarding the withdrawal of the government grant Blake said that CIFA would meet with Bodden, but that CONCACAF and FIFA grants would enable CIFA to continue its activities and that he hoped there would be support from the commercial marketplace.
It is unclear whether complaints have been made to CONCACAF or FIFA regarding the electoral process, but given the heightened tension in the country when it comes to football transparency, it is unlikely that any complaints will be brushed under the carpet.
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