The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Football Association (BFA) president Anton Sealey said he was surprised at the latest controversy that has rocked Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) after the third consecutive president of the governing body was indicted in the FIBA bribery case.

Yesterday, acting president Alfredo Hawit was arrested in Zurich on a US Department of Justice request. Hawit, a FIFA vice president, was among seven senior CONCACAF region officials in the latest DOJ indictment to rock soccer’s governing body and rip through its Latin American leaders.

Hawit, of Honduras, was appointed after CONCACAF presidents Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands and Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago were charged in a first indictment published in May. Webb pleaded guilty to racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering charges also unsealed last Thursday. He agreed to forfeit $6.7 million in bribes.

“I was indeed surprised that he (Hawit) was arrested,” said Sealey when contacted yesterday.

Hawit, who assumed the statutory appointment by virtue of being the most senior vice president, was named in the indictment for taking a $250,000 bribe to exploit his position of influence when made acting CONCACAF president in 2011 after FIFA suspended Warner for bribery.

Hawit was to serve as the interim president until the presidential election to formally replace Webb is scheduled on May 12 in Mexico City when the XXXI CONCACAF Ordinary Congress is held.

When asked if the US Attorney General’s Office has been in touch with CONCACAF member associations like the BFA as part of their investigation, Sealey would only say that “this is an ongoing investigation. I cannot offer any comment on this at this time.”

Despite the latest developments, CONCACAF has announced that Confederation’s Executive Committee (EXCO) voted unanimously to not appoint a successor president of CONCACAF and to operate the confederation through the members of the EXCO as a whole until a new president is democratically elected by its member associations.

Current CONCACAF EXCO members Justino Compean, Horace Burrell, Sunil Gulati, Pedro Chaluja, Luis Hernandez, Victor Montagliani and Sonia Bien-Aime will oversee the confederation’s operations and serve in an advisory capacity to CONCACAF’s acting general secretary, Ted Howard and director-level staff.

When asked if he thinks these latest developments will have an impact on the BFA, Sealey said it’s too early to say.

“Naturally, when the leadership of any group is taken away and in the manner in which it was done, in this instance, there will be some impact to the membership,” he said. “Exactly what it will be to member associations like the BFA, I think it’s too early to tell, particularly as FIFA has yet to sort out its leadership question.

“If the question is, are we any worse off today than we were two weeks ago, I would suggest the answer would be no.”

And, in moving forward, Sealey said they will have to wait and see what happens on May 12 at the CONCACAF Congress.

“The focus must now be on the leadership and that means electing a new president, who will articulate his vision for the confederation and drive the process in moving the confederation forward,” he said..