(Reuters) CONCACAF’s former leaders Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer were “fraudulent in their management” of the confederation’s affairs, the head of the body’s Integrity Committee told its congress on Friday.
David Simmons presented a detailed report into allegations of financial mismanagement by former president Warner and ex-general secretary Blazer based on documents and interviews with 38 people.
Simmons began his address to the congress, including FIFA president Sepp Blatter, by highlighting the case of the Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence in Port of Spain, in Warner’s native Trinidad.
The committee reported that the Centre in which CONCACAF invested at least $25.9 million, some of which included loans from world soccer’s governing body FIFA, was built on land owned by Warner privately and not the confederation.
“Warner represented to FIFA that funds would be used to support development but never told FIFA that Centre would be situated on land owned by his companies,” said Simmons.
“There is no evidence that Warner or anyone else ever disclosed to the CONCACAF executive committee or congress that lands on which the Centre was built was owned by his companies,” he said.
Simmons said that in deals surrounding the Centre, Warner “deceived persons and organisations” into believing the facility was CONCACAF’s and not his.
Former Barbados chief justice Simmons said that neither Warner nor Blazer cooperated with the investigation.
CONCACAF represents soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean. (Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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