By Andrew Warshaw
September 23 – Former Barbados Chief Justice Sir David Simmons has been appointed to chair the newly formed Integrity Committee of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) in an attempt to improve the organisation’s credibility after 18 scandal-tainted months.
Sir David (pictured top, second right), who served as the 12th Chief Justice of Barbados from 2002 to 2010, will lead a three-member committee of representatives from each region of the confederation.
The other two members are Judge Ricardo Urbina (pictured top, far left), a retired United States District Court Judge and Ernesto Hempe (pictured top, far right), a retired partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), who has over 30 years of financial experience.
“This meeting marks the beginning of the independent review process requested by members of the Confederation during the Congress in Budapest,” said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb (pictured top, second left) following the committee’s first meeting in New York.
“We have invited the most qualified and reputable individuals in their fields to assist us in the fulfillment of our vision of integrity, transparency and accountability, which will help us build a transparent structure and allow our region to grow.”
The new committee was created following the high-profile departures of former CONCACAF President Jack Warner and general secretary Chuck Blazer.
Warner resigned after being caught up in the 2011 cash-for-votes scandal involving Caribbean delegates, while Blazer stepped down as CONCACAF’s secretary general in December after which he was embroiled in allegations of financial impropriety.
The new group “will have oversight of all investigations pertaining to past practices from the previous leadership” said a CONCACAF statement.
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