Seven-day suspension for himself and fines for both aside, President of the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) Everton “Batow” Gonsalves said he and General Secretary Gordon “Banks” Derrick feel vindicated by the decision of the Ethics Committee, which probed Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials in a cash-for-vote scandal.
In a decision publicised yesterday after phone interviews this week, Gonsalves received a week’s suspension that prevents him from taking part in any football-related activity and a fine of 300 Swiss Francs, which is the equivalent of EC 7.27.
Derrick was reprimanded and fined the same sum.
“If it’s one thing we have seen that is quite clear is that ABFA officials, Mr Gordon Derrick and myself, have been cleared of any charges of receiving or being offered any cash money at the meeting on May 11, 2011,” Gonsalves said.
He was referencing the now infamous CFU two-day meeting in Trinidad and allegations that member clubs were offered US ,000 to vote for former FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam.
The scandal and resultant probe forced the resignation of regional football boss Austin Jack Warner. The investigation was closed following the former FIFA vice president’s exit from the football scene.
Bin Hammam withdrew his election bid after the scandal broke and was later banned for life by FIFA’s Ethics Panel.
Gonsalves told OBSERVER the sanctions against himself and Derrick are because the Ethics Committee deemed that they did not live up to their fiduciary responsibility to FIFA, by reporting the alleged bribe.
“One of the general rules is that there is a duty to disclose and report. But we didn’t think we had anything to report because we only heard through the grapevine what they said transpired at that meeting,” Gonsalves, an attorney, said.
He reiterated that the important thing to note is that the ABFA officials were not charged with bribery or receiving cash gifts.
“We have not been found to have infringed those,” Gonsalves said. “We have always indicated that we never received or were offered any cash gift at all, and that is clear from the decision.”
Gonsalves, who was reading the decision sent by FIFA at the time of the interview, said the Ethics Committee felt they had a duty to inform and that they had not been willing participants in the probe, missing several meetings.
“We tried to make ourselves available,” Gonsalves said. He noted that they could not attend the first meeting in The Bahamas as it came at a time when four members had resigned from the ABFA and the association was in a “state of flux.”
A second attempt to go to another session in St Maarten was thwarted by industrial action at the airport that resulted in cancelled flights.
A communication mix-up is blamed for the third failed attempt, with Gonsalves saying counsel retained by several CFU members received notice of a meeting which was not copied to the persons being investigated.
“Subsequently, having been written to by FIFA, we indicated that we were willing to co-operate and we held our meeting here and told them everything that we knew about the meeting, and they were still of the opinion that we should have done more than that to make ourselves available for the initial interview,” Gonsalves said.
In total, the Ethics Committee has issued suspensions of varying lengths to 11 CFU members and two CFU employees. Five officials were warned and four were reprimanded.
Warner was one of six CFU officials who resigned their posts. The Ethics Committee said their cases would be reopened if they ever return to football.
The sanctions handed down yesterday included a two-year ban for Patrick John of Dominica and a 3,000 Swiss Franc fine (EC ,829.18).
Vincent Cassell of Montserrat was banned for 60 days and received a fine of 300 Swiss Francs. Tandica Hughes, also of Montserrat, was banned for 15 days.
Anguilla’s Raymond Guishard was banned for 45 days received a similar fine.
Noel Adonis of Guyana was banned for 30 days and was also fined 300 Swiss Francs.
(Source http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=67535)
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