By Andrew Warshaw
September 18 – Auditors examining the books of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) under the previous regime led by former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who resigned from football in the wake of last year’s cash-for-votes scandal, have not yet completed their work, delaying the confederation’s extraordinary congress until next year.
CONCACAF’s current President Jeffrey Webb (pictured top) and his Executive Committee have granted external auditors further time to complete an audit of the body’s finances when Warner was in control and Chuck Blazer (pictured below, right, with FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Warner), who left the body last December, was general secretary.
Earlier this year at its annual congress in Budapest, a day that was supposed to all be about Webb being elected as the new CONCACAF President was completely overshadowed by stunning revelations of alleged tax evasion and misappropriation of funds by those who controlled CONCACAF.
“This audit is a massive undertaking that will set our financial house straight and ensure that CONCACAF’s operations are executed in a responsible and ethical manner going forward,” said Webb in a letter to members.
“This initiative was inspired by the new CONCACAF’s commitment to full accountability and transparency and it is essential that we get this right so we can move on to focus on our true purpose, the development of the game.”
Among the areas of concern, said Webb, was the revelation that CONCACAF “has not been filing the necessary forms to maintain its not-for-profit status”.
It was also still being determined “whether CONCACAF had legal title to the João Havelange Centre of Excellence, located in Trinidad and Tobago”.
In Budapest, it was disclosed that the $22.5 million (£14.3 million/€17.9 million) Centre of Excellence was not owned by CONCACAF, as all its members had assumed, but – secretly – by two companies owned by Warner.
Football Association of Cuba President Luis Hernández told Webb at the time he was “sitting on a time bomb”.
Webb said everything was now being done to rectify past misdemeanours.
“Since our congress in Budapest, I am pleased to report that CONCACAF has made significant progress in fulfilling,” wrote Webb.
“We hoped that these efforts would have been completed by October 2012 and we could have an extraordinary congress to update you, however, there are still a number of significant issues yet to be resolved.
“In order to ensure that all of these ongoing issues are examined fully and addressed openly, the extraordinary congress originally scheduled to take place in October of 2012 will be held in the first quarter of 2013.”
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