Caribbean to cooperate with FIFA probe
Reuters - Saturday 11 June 2011, 00:21
MIAMI - Caribbean football federations
will fully cooperate with FIFA's bribery
investigation after the world soccer governing body moved the
venue for interviews to the Bahamas, Jamaican FA president Horace Burrell declared on Friday.
Burrell is acting president of the Caribbean Football Union
(CFU), which had objected to the interviews being held in Miami.
"In light of the attempts to address the challenges facing
the Caribbean Football Union; as well bring closure to the
Ethics Committee proceedings, members of the Caribbean Football
Union will fully cooperate with any investigation being
conducted on behalf of the FIFA Ethics Committee," said Burrell.
The investigation is focused on allegations that bribes were
handed out at a CFU meeting with Asian soccer chief Mohammed Bin
Hammam in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on May 10 and 11.
CFU president Jack Warner and Bin Hammam, who at that time
was a candidate for the FIFA presidency, were both suspended by
FIFA's Ethics committee on May 29, pending a full inquiry.
"We have received notice that the requested interviews will
now be conducted in the Bahamas as opposed to the United States
of America," said Jamaican Burrell.
"This event has dragged on for too long, many have suffered
and many will continue to suffer. And so the Union is unified in
its position that in the interest of this game, we have agreed
to attend the interviews at dates convenient to our respective
members."