Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) President Victor Montagliani yesterday declared that stronger governance models aid in eradicating corruption while promoting transparency and accountability within the confederation.
He was speaking at a press conference held yesterday afternoon at the Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel.
Asked what measures and systems CONCACAF institutes to ensure transparency and accountability given the recent history of corruption that has tainted the confederation, Montagliani said: “One of the things we have done both at FIFA and CONCACAF, I was very honored to be a part of both reform committees, was to change our statutes and governance structure, as it relates to checks and balances, how money comes in and more importantly how money goes out.”
From left, GFF PRO Debra Francis, Aruba Football Association President Richard Dijkhoff, GFF President Wayne Forde, St. Maarten Football Association boss Fabrice Baly and CONCACAF Legal Advisor Marco Leal. (Orlando Charles photo)
The United States of America (US A) Department of Justice has charged several members of the world governing body for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering during its FIFA corruption investigation in 2016.
Among the officials charged include then CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb, former Panamanian federation president Ariel Alvarado, Honduran official Rafael Callejas, Guatemalan federation president Brayan Jimenez, former Guatemalan federation president Rafael Salguero, Guatemalan federation secretary Hector Trujillo and ex-Salvadoran federation president Reynaldo Vasquez.
It was against that backdrop that Montagliani spoke of the efforts being made by both FIFA and CONCACAF in improving transparency and accountability.
“So that has changed, there is a lot more auditing that will be done. Even our one CONCACAF fund that we established this year, I know sometime it’s a bit of a pain for some of our members because it seems a little bureaucratic, the reality is that from where we were, we have no choice but to establish those criteria. The days of just handing somebody a cheque and saying all the best to you is gone,” Montagliani said.
He went on: “It’s the reality of the world we live in and it’s the right thing to do quite frankly because we can’t afford another slip up that way. We can’t afford people that are in the game that perpetrated those kind of things and as I said in the past, there is still that kind of stuff going on in football, not just in CONCACAF. The message is clear from the world, it’s not even from FIFA. Our fans and our players deserve a lot better and it’s up to us as leaders to ensure that the strict governance models are followed.
“You have to live it every day and at the end of the day you have to entrust that people will always do the right thing but stuff does happen and the reality is that the more difficult you make it for people to do that, then it’s not going to happen but if it is does happen we need to react in the right way. People that have crossed the line on ethics need to be removed from football,” he added.
Asked about some of the areas that were discussed for partnership between CONCACAF and the GFF, Montagliani, who met with President David Granger, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and Director of Sport, Christopher Jones, said: “A lot of the discussions have been around player development. Obviously coaching development as well as discussing some of the areas that CONCACAF has already established where our members like Guyana can take advantage of.
“Obviously one of the biggest issues in CONACACF, not just whether its Guyana or the Caribbean or Central America but even in North America, you have some struggles with facilities so those are challenges that are not going to be fixed overnight, but I am pleased to see a government that is really supporting our sport and the Guyana federation, in terms of looking at ways to help whether its redoing the field, new lands so it’s really nice to see the support right from the top of the country in the President.”
Montagliani said the government and the federation need to become partners in improving the infrastructure of the sport.
“I think with that kind of voluntary support, challenging and tackling the issue of infrastructure in a partnership because, at the end of the day, no one entity will be able to do it on its own. I am very optimistic that those infrastructure challenges can be tackled but they have to be tackled in the right way and it has to be a long-term plan over the next 10, 20 years quite frankly. I think that’s where we are at and obviously there are some things that can be done right now and with the development of the Technical Centre, that’s one of them, but I think that’s just the start.”
