Burrell breaks silence on cash-for-votes scandal

By Andrew Warshaw

February 2 – Horace Burrell (pictured), President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), who was banned for six months – including three suspended – as part of last year’s cash-for-votes debacle, has broken his silence by admitting he failed to cooperate with the official investigation.

Burrell, somewhat controversially, is now back at the forefront of Caribbean football as a member of the nine-man Normalisation Committee after sitting out three months of his ban for his role in the scandal that led to former FIFA Presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam being thrown out of football for allegedly offering bribes of $40,000 (£25,272/€30,518) to Caribbean officials.

Describing his suspension as a closed matter, Burrell nevertheless insisted he did not receive any money whatsoever.

“I did not benefit from any monetary gain from that meeting in Trinidad, neither did Bruce Gaynor, my vice-president who attended, neither Horace Reid (JFF general secretary), neither Jamaica, so none of us benefited from any monetary gains,” Burrell was quoted as saying.

FIFA have never disclosed what crimes a raft of suspended Caribbean officials actually committed, how many took the cash and how much of it was subsequently given back.

Burrell says the only reason he was suspended was that he did not initially cooperate with investigation into the affair which in itself violated FIFA’s Code of Ethics.

“Initially, we did not fully cooperate with the investigators,” he said.

“No one wanted to cooperate, but after a while we realised that it was important to cooperate and to clear the air, which was done.”

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