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MIAMI: The Suriname FA said it had received a brown envelope containing $40,000 during a meeting of Caribbean officials as the fallout from FIFA's corruption scandal continued in the CONCACAF region on Thursday.
FIFA also agreed to conduct interviews in the Caribbean rather than Miami as it investigates the cash-for-votes allegations which led Mohamed Bin Hammam to quit the race for the presidency of soccer's governing body.
Shortly after pulling out, Bin Hammam was suspended by FIFA's ethics committee along with CONCACAF president Jack Warner pending further investigations.
Warner's ban has led to a power vacuum in CONCACAF which continued on Thursday as FIFA imposed a worldwide ban on president Lisle Austin, who was provisionally barred by CONCACAF only four days after taking over.
Like CONCACAF, which has said only that Barbadian Austin was guilty of an “apparent infringement” of statutes, FIFA did not explain the ban.
Honduran Alfredo Hawit has been put in temporary charge of the confederation, which governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean and is currently staging its showpiece event, the Gold Cup.
Austin's spokesman, Ryan Toohey, said on Thursday that the Barbadian official was still the genuine president.
“Mr Austin has not been notified of any action by FIFA regarding any suspension. There is no existing suspension so there is nothing to extend,” he told Reuters.
BANK ACCOUNT
The associations of Puerto Rico and Bahamas have already told FIFA they were offered $40,000 at the Caribbean Football Union meeting in Port of Spain last month and Suriname FA chief Louis Giskus made similar allegations.
“We have told FIFA about the gifts. The money is in our bank account,” Giskus told Reuters, adding he was told that the money came from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and not Bin Hammam.
“After we received the gifts, we decided not to use the gifts and we will keep the money in the bank until FIFA give us indication what to do,” said Giskis.
Caribbean football officials, from 25 national federations, had been invited by FIFA to be interviewed by investigators led by former FBI chief Louis Freeh.
The officials had objected to meeting in Miami this week and at least one federation had called for the replacement of Freeh, given the allegations were originally made by CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer, who is also American.
A source said FIFA had agreed to hold the meetings in the Caribbean and that discussions were ongoing about a specific date and time.
“It is viewed as a step in the right direction,” said the source, who declined to be named.
