The Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Football Association (CONCACAF) suspended embattled President Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands.
Webb, was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland as part of a United States led crackdown on alleged corruption in Football’s World Governing Body FIFA. He is accused of seeking millions of dollars in bribes related to television deals. This is part of a US indictment that alleges corrupt acts to the tune of US$150 million, which has seen 13 other people either arrested or implicated.
The confederation named Senior Vice President Alfredo Hawit as CONCACAF President and also announced that Eduardo Li, another of the persons arrested, has also been dismissed.
“While we are profoundly disappointed by the allegations made by authorities that again, CONCACAF has been the victim of fraud, we remain committed to CONCACAF’s goal to develop, promote and manage the game of soccer,” said Hawit.
“We have now taken the appropriate steps to maintain our operations and continue to deliver on our commitments to all of our constituents, including our fans, members, as well as commercial and broadcast partners. We also continue to cooperate with the ongoing investigation by governmental authorities, which have not placed any restrictions on our ongoing activities,” the newly-installed president added.
Meantime, CONCACAF’s Executive Committee appointed Victor Montagliani, the President of the Canadian Soccer Association, Justino Compean, the president of the Mexican Soccer Federation and Sunil Gulati, the resident of U.S. Soccer Federation to a special committee charged with the duties of evaluating and sustaining all of the business operations of the confederation.
The Executive Committee also placed General Secretary Enrique Sanz on a leave of absence to begin immediately. In addition, the confederation’s Deputy General Secretary, Ted Howard has been appointed by the executive committee as acting General Secretary. Howard takes over the administrative functions of the day to day business of the Confederation in absence of Enrique Sanz.
