Zurich, May 29 (IANS): Barbados Football Association (BFA) President Randy Harris says the scandal that has rocked CONCACAF, the governing body of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has left "an air of despondency" in the confederation.
Harris's comments came after Swiss law enforcement authorities swooped down on a hotel here and arrested several CONCACAF and FIFA officials, including CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb. Also a FIFA vice-president, Webb was among the nine current and former football officials along with five corporate executives, subsequently named in the 47-count indictment announced by the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), reports CMC.
On Thursday, CONCACAF announced that Webb had been "provisionally dismissed" and senior vice-president Alfredo Hawit installed as interim head.
"Basically it came out of the blue. When we awoke (Wednesday) morning we heard the news and obviously we were shocked because just the night before we had a cocktail reception with some of the persons who were nabbed," said Harris, who is here for Friday’s FIFA presidential election.
“There is an air of despondency here. Obviously we are very, very concerned that some of those nabbed are members of CONCACAF.”
Webb was only last month elected CONCACAF president for his first full term in-charge and was set to be installed during the FIFA Congress, which got underway Thursday. Ironically, he took over the helm of the confederation in 2012, after a similar corruption scandal claimed long serving football strongman Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago.
Harris said during his relatively short time in-charge, Webb had built strong relationships with regional associations.
“He and I built quite a close personal relationship besides the football one and he also had a very good relationship with all CONCACAF members. We were quite proud that he was elected president and he has been of great assistance to us. It was unbelievable he would have been in any company such as that but you’re innocent until proven guilty so we’ll wait and see the outcome," Harris explained.
Harris said Barbados football had nothing to fear as a result of the latest scandal as only recently FIFA had given the BFA’s finances its blessing.
“This (scandal) is not anywhere near the level of the member associations. This is alleged to have happened at the very top, with the people who make the decisions, the movers and shakers. We have nothing to worry about,” Harris stressed.
“As a matter of fact, the day before, we were told here by FIFA who did an audit of the BFA earlier in the year, that they are proud of the way that we run the association at this time, and that our financial matters are above board.”