Government halts funding to Cayman Football, police probe begins

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, CMC-The government here has suspended funding to the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) after the organisation refused to accept the nomination of two new members to its executive committee.

Jeffrey Webb
Jeffrey Webb

Renard Moxam and Sharon Roulstone were told their nomination papers were not in order and CIFA re-elected Bruce Blake as its vice-president, in its recent elections.

Blake will continue as acting CIFA president since former president Jeffrey Webb, also the former CONCACAF president and FIFA vice president, is facing trial in the United States on a series of corruption related charges.

“In the light of all that has happened in the recent past with FIFA, CONCACAF and by extension CIFA, one would have thought we could have gotten past this to allow some possible changes,” Sports Minister Osbourne Bodden said in a statement.

“As a government we have therefore decided that regrettably we cannot financially support CIFA any further under the current circumstances”.

Meantime, the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission has confirmed that a police investigation has been launched into CIFA.

The probe appears to be linked to corruption in the sports with the local media reporting that CIFA’s auditors had reported “suspicious transactions” to the authority.

“The Anti-Corruption Commission can confirm that a matter involving the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) has been brought to the Commission’s attention,” a spokesman for the body has been quoted as saying.

“This matter is being reviewed and no further information will be released at this time”.