Exclusive: Caribbean countries to be probed as FIFA bribery saga continues

By Andrew Warshaw

July 25 – As many as 15 representatives of Caribbean countries could now face investigation as part of the explosive bribery scandal that brought down Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam at the weekend.

insideworldfootball has learned that FIFA’s secretariat will be asked by its Ethics Committee to open a flurry of new cases just when it was thought the entire debacle had reached its denouement with Bin Hammam, former President of the Asian Football Confederation, banned for life.

Towards the end of Saturday’s hastily arranged press conference following the Ethics Committee hearing into Bin Hammam, Namibian judge Petrus Damaseb (pictured), who chaired the hearing, intriguingly revealed that “in the light of evidence disclosed” the Committee would request a further probe “into the conduct of others” who attended the infamous May 10-11 meeting in Trinidad where the bribes were allegedly offered.

Damaseb refused to elaborate but insideworldfootball has now learned that those involved represent 11 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) associations who attended the meeting where the illicit payments were offered but denied it ever took place.

Given that the ethics committee found it did take place and that money was indeed handed out, it is understood that FIFA general-secretary Jérôme Valcke will now be asked to launch a separate probe into those associations.

insideworldfootball has been given the names of the countries as British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, US Virgin Islands and Barbados.

All are understood to have sent affidavits to the Ethics Committee.

In addition, representatives of four other countries are alleged to have failed to respond to a request to be interviewed by the investigations team – and these four could also now face a probe into their conduct.

They have been identified as Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Montserrat.

The latest development, as first predicted by insideworldfootball, adds another layer of intrigue and skulduggery on to the unprecedented cash-for-votes scandal just when FIFA is hoping attention will be switched to next weekend’s 2014 preliminary World Cup draw in Brazil.

Meanwhile, Bin Hammam’s assertion that the five-man Ethics Committee had decided in advance they would throw the book at him and that the verdict was orchestrated in part by FIFA President Sepp Blatter in revenge for Bin Hammam standing against him is being treated with utter amazement by the ethics committee members themselves.

Bin Hammam, who was alleged to have offered $40,000 (£24,000) bribes to CFU members, has refused to accept his fate and insists he still has not been given precise details of exactly what he was supposed to have done wrong.

Another view, however, is that his legal team were presented with copies of all the evidence as it was being collated while the ethics committee are adamant they were not responsible for any of the media leaks that occurred during the process.

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