News Americas, ZURICH, Switzerland, Fri. Aug. 12, 2011: Sixteen Caribbean officials are set to face the FIFA Ethics Committee.
The Committee on Thursday opened ethics proceedings against the Caribbean Football Union officials over apparent violations of the organization’s Code of Ethics related to alliterations of bribery by a former Presidential candidate of FIFA at a special meeting of the CFU held in Trinidad & Tobago on May 10 and 11, 2011. FIFA wants to know if each took $40,000 in cash in brown bags from Mohamed Bin Hammam in exchange for their votes in a June 1 FIFA presidential election as related by former CONCACAF member, Chuck Blazer.
The 16 are David Hinds and Mark Bob Forde of Barbados; Franka Pickering and Aubrey Liburd of the British Virgin Islands; David Frederick of the Cayman Islands; Osiris Guzman and Felix Ledesma of the Dominican Republic; Colin Klass and Noel Adonis of Guyana; Yves Jean-Bart of Haiti; Anthony Johnson of St. Kitts and Nevis; Patrick Mathurin of St. Lucia; Joseph Delves and Ian Hypolite of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Richard Groden of Trinidad and Tobago and Hillaren Frederick of the US Virgin Islands.
Klass has been already provisionally suspended from taking part in any football-related activity.
Hammam is appealing a lifetime ban he received for allegedly organizing the bribes through former CONCACAF President, Jack Warner, who resigned his post, leading FIFA to drop its investigation into him.
Judge Robert T. Torres, a member of the Ethics Committee, will supervise and direct the investigation. He has engaged Freeh Group International Europe and the secretariat of the Ethics Committee to assist with this task.
