Derrick stays as Caribbean president despite concerns over missing cash
Gordon Derrick held on to his position as president of the Caribbean Football Union after a bitter election campaign but takes on a body in “dire financial straits”.
The Antiguan beat his only challenger, David John-Williams from Trinidad & Tobago, by 18 votes to 12 in the election in Miami on July 23. A third challenger, Hillaren Frederick from the US Virgin Islands, withdrew beforehand after a feared intervention to Derrick’s candidacy from CONCACAF or FIFA failed to materialise.
Canada’s Victor Montagliani was elected CONCACAF president in May 2016, but Derrick was unable to run after falling foul of a FIFA ethics check. He was ruled out after his earlier censure for the 2011 Bin Hammam bribery scandal and a notorious Antiguan FIFA Goal project, which has swallowed $1.3million in FIFA money since 2000 without being built.
Derrick, who is appealing against this ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, will be CFU president until 2020 but he takes on a body with liabilities of $1.2m according to a confidential CONCACAF audit of the CFU’s affairs.
The audit was carried out after the CFU told CONCACAF in December 2015 and January 2016 that it was unable to make what the confederation describes as a “timely repayment” of a $230,000 loan.
CONCACAF responded with the audit,
which claimed payments of $45,000 a month, to support the CFU’s administrative and overhead expenses, were being made into a different account set up in Antigua & Barbuda on November 10 2015.
CONCACAF suspended the monthly CFU subvention – or grant – and began paying staff directly. On March 10, CONCACAF acting general-secretary Ted Howard wrote to Derrick, insisting any documentation relating to grants be sent by May 2016 to a New York law firm. Howard specifically insisted documentation relating to CONCACAF grants was not destroyed and threatened unspecified “sanctions” for non-compliance. On May 31, Derrick and CFU generalsecretary Neil Cochrane met CONCACAF representatives in Miami, but had only provided “some of the documentation” according to a June 14 letter. Howard described the CFU’s current financial situation as “grave” after producing a financial review that posed a number of serious questions.
CONCACAF asked the CFU to identify “miscellaneous payables” of $247,514 and queried unidentified “bonus payments”. It also wanted details on expenses of $317,500 on the CFU Club Championship, $295,424 for the Men’s Caribbean Cup, and $250,000 for TV rights payments.
In this review, CONCACAF asked for details on the “timing of the $1.2m of Deferred Liability”, for audited financial statements for the last two fiscal years and details of an “unplanned” cost of $750,000 for a CFU women’s tournament.
On June 28, CFU vice-president Cheney Joseph sent an email to Cochrane and Derrick saying: “It has been brought to my attention that the CFU is...indebted to the government of Jamaica some $80,000 on taxes.”
According to Derrick, a second account was opened because the previous CFU account was held in the Cayman Islands, home to disgraced ex-CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb.
In the CFU elections, the Grenadian Joseph held onto his first vice-president’s position, while Rignaal Francisca (Curacao) and Lyndon Cooper (St Lucia) continue as second and third vice-president. Frederick failed in his bid for the role of fourth vicepresident, which was won by Richard Dijkhoff of Aruba.
CONCACAF asked CFU to identify “miscellaneous payables” of $247,514 and queried “bonus payments”
Steve Menary