By Paul Nicholson
September 18 – With the Trinidad and Tobago FA teetering on the brink of suspension by FIFA, the country’s displaced former ‘United TTFA’ board, their supporters and supporting media have continued their obsession with former president David John-Williams (pictured left).
A TV documentary broadcast on Guardian Media Limited (GML) channel CNC 3 alleged that John-Williams is holding money from FIFA in a personal Panamanian bank account that was sent by FIFA for the construction of the Home of Football.
John-Williams has now responded in a statement saying that “all of the allegations made against me are false.” He goes on to say that reporter Mark Bassant and “GML are both liable for the false and defamatory allegations contained and made in these articles and television news stories, which they continue to publish and to carry.”
To that end he said he has appointed lawyers who will be instructed to file legal proceedings once they have reviewed John-Williams’ documentation. He continues that “to the extent that I am permitted by my attorneys-at-law to do so, I also propose to make publicly available the material which I have in my possession and which is otherwise available to me, which will show all of these allegations to be baseless.”
It was a hard-hitting documentary and personal character assassination that painted the now stereotyped image of yet another corrupt Caribbean football official taking FIFA grant money for personal gain.
Following the documentary United TTFA leaders trumpeted to anyone that would listen that John-Williams was the problem and not them, and that FIFA needed to put them back in charge of the TTFA and remove the Normalisation Committee.
They were already riding high from another dubiously home-court ruling that saw them overturn a majority demand from TTFA stakeholders for an extraordinary egm where the main item on the agenda was to get them to drop their legal battle with FIFA over control of the TTFA. They maintain that John-Williams is the problem and not them, and that FIFA needed to put them back in charge of the TTFA
The problem is that John-Williams was removed by the United TTFA election slate in the November 2019 elections and hasn’t been active in the FA since, a period that saw new president William Wallace and technical director Keith Look Loy, fail to deliver any significant new money but massively ratchet up costs, lose control of their bank account and generally point the finger at anyone else rather than own the situation – and plot a credibly course out of the mess.
What also looks to be a significant problem for them and GLM is whether what they have is proof that John-Williams misappropriated money, or just that they have proved he has a bank account in Panama (and even that is seemingly only verified via an open source name search).
Normalisation committee chair Robert Hadad and committee member Nigel Romano – both trained accountants – later in the week were interviewed on the pan-Caribbean SportsMax channel and said that all the money in the TTFA bank account in relation to the Home of Football was accounted for in an authorised manner. Only one invoice was paid to a Panamanian company and that was similarly accounted for.
Ultimately the John-Williams situation is a sideshow and a diversion from the real issues facing the TTFA.
As one Trinidad contact told Insideworldfootball: “This isn’t about rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, these guys are having a party in the bar.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1747113169labto1747113169ofdlr1747113169owedi1747113169sni@n1747113169osloh1747113169cin.l1747113169uap1747113169