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 That organizer, the University College of the Cayman Islands,
trumpeted CONCACAF’s involvement and said the aim of the gathering
was “to raise awareness of the potential for corruption and decline
in ethical standards across all the various sectors of society,
including sports, and the consequent damaging effect on economies
and social harmony.”
Little more than a year later, CONCACAF is at the center of the
turmoil engulfing FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, following
U.S. prosecutors’ indictment last month of nine current and former
officials and five business executives in a $150 million corruption
case.
Of the nine, four were members of CONCACAF, which also represents
countries in North and Central America. The two most prominent from
the Caribbean were former CONCACAF president Jack Warner, from
Trinidad and Tobago, and the man who replaced him in that job -
Jeffrey Webb from the Caymans, who was a speaker at the conference.
Both had also served as FIFA vice presidents and members of its
powerful 24-member executive committee.
From the tiny Caymans, a British dependent territory, to the larger
independent nations of Jamaica and Trinidad, the scandal has left
the region facing questions about whether a culture of corruption is
embedded in small island politics and society. The abuse of soccer,
which has overtaken cricket and athletics in popularity in the
region, has become a symbol of that problem.
"There is a Jack Warner or two in every Caribbean parliament today,"
said political scientist Tennyson Joseph at the University of the
West Indies in Barbados, noting that poor public services in some
islands had opened the door to populist would-be Robin Hoods.
The scandal also risks damaging the island economies by deterring
U.S. and other foreign banks from dealing with banks in the region.
"Due to compliance requirements it's getting more and more difficult
for local banks to find a correspondent bank that will take
Caribbean business," said David Jessop, a veteran consultant to the
Caribbean Council, a London-based non-profit trade advisory group.
The indictment details a series of wire transfers between Caribbean
banks and U.S. banks, and the U.S. authorities have indicated they
will be reviewing such transactions to see if any institutions
knowingly facilitated bribe payments.
BLATTER PRAISED
FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who announced on June 2 he will step
down, is widely regarded in the Caribbean as a hero for championing
developing countries, giving them the same power as big soccer
playing countries in votes at the annual FIFA Congress and providing
funds to develop the sport in the region.
The corruption questions facing Blatter were “a small price to pay
for all the good he has done," wrote sportscaster Orville Higgins in
the Jamaican newspaper, The Gleaner last week.
A number of former soccer officials, even those tainted by this
scandal and earlier corruption investigations, have retained
political influence.
Warner, for example, was reelected to parliament in Trinidad despite
his resignation as FIFA vice president and CONCACAF president in
2011 after he was the subject of a FIFA probe into his role at a
meeting where bribes were paid to officials in the region.
The U.S. indictment alleges that beginning in the early 1990s,
Warner “began to leverage his influence and exploit his official
positions for personal gain,” including soliciting and accepting
bribes for his executive committee vote in the selection of who
would host the FIFA World Cup in 1998 and 2010.
He has denied the charges and is fighting extradition from Trinidad
to the U.S. Warner and his lawyer declined to speak with Reuters for
this article.
His two sons, Daryll Warner, a former FIFA development officer, and
Daryan Warner, have pleaded guilty to wire fraud and other financial
crimes in the same U.S. case. For Daryan, e the charges largely
relate to his obtaining tickets to World Cup games fraudulently and
selling them at a substantial profit.
In 2011, FIFA’s ethics committee investigated dozens of Caribbean
soccer officials in what became known as the cash-for-votes scandal,
following allegations that representatives of each federation in the
Caribbean Football Union (CFU) received envelopes stuffed with
$40,000 in return for supporting Asian Football Confederation head
Mohammed Bin Hamman in that year’s presidential election.
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Ten were sanctioned and five others issued warnings. FIFA initially
suspended Jack Warner for his role in helping Bin Hamman but the
case against him was dropped by FIFA when he resigned all of his
soccer positions.
Several continue to hold key posts, including Caribbean Football
Union president Gordon Derrick of Antigua and CONCACAF Vice
President Horace Burrell of Jamaica.
Burrell was banned for three months from taking part in any
football-related activity for apparent violations of FIFA’s code of
ethics at the 2011 CFU meeting. Later that year, the committee gave
Derrick a reprimand and a fine of 300 Swiss Francs ($322) for code
of ethics violations at the same meeting.
Burrell and Derrick did not respond to requests for comment.
Burrell, a retired Jamaican army captain, is credited with helping
Jamaica's team, known as the 'Reggae Boyz’, qualify for its only
World Cup Finals in 1998. A food chain Burrell owns – the Captain’s
Bakery – has sponsored some of the lower level leagues, also helping
his popularity. He also teamed up with Webb to bring one of the
chain's outlets to the Caymans.
Webb’s arrest stunned many in the Caymans He had built a reputation
as an official who could clean up CONCACAF after Warner’s reign, and
was seen as a potential successor to Blatter.
An attorney for Webb declined to comment.
BLIND EYE
Experts on Caribbean politics say none of this should be a surprise.
Joseph from Barbados, pointed to an "under-developed democratic
culture" in the Caribbean that could turn a blind eye to public
corruption, deemed petty and excusable.
The Caribbean lacks campaign finance laws creating a "black hole in
dealing with corruption," said Trevor Munroe, the region's most
prominent political scientist at the University of the West Indies
in Jamaica.
But that could be changing. Legislation before the Jamaican
parliament seeks to regulate political contributions for the first
time. Another bill would create an independent anti-corruption
commission. Similar legislation has also been introduced in
Trinidad.
The scandal has also opened up other fissures in society, such as
those between locals and foreigners living in the Caribbean.
When the Caymans only daily paper, the Cayman Compass, ran an
editorial suggesting Webb was part of a culture of corruption on the
small island chain, the publishers were accused of treason by the
head of the government.
Premier Alden McLaughlin suggested the paper's American owners were
foreigners with no understanding of the island way of life. The
publishers, David and Vicki Legge, saying they didn’t feel safe,
fled to South Florida.
For those running soccer teams in the region it has led to a lot of
soul searching.
"Somewhere along the way historically we have lost the idea of what
the role of soccer and sport is in human development," said Renard
Moxom, director of the Caymans national soccer teams. "We need to
get back to the real purpose of promoting the game. We really need
to protect it. It's in a fragile state right now."
(Additional reporting by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar in Port of Spain,
Horace Helps in Kingston, and Brian Homewood in Zurich; Editing by
Martin Howell)
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