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Seaga Calls For JFF To Break Silence On Bribery Claims
SPEAK UP! - Seaga Calls For JFF To Break Silence On Bribery Claims
Published: Thursday | June 2, 20110 Comments
Seaga
André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
Chairman of the Professional Football Association of Jamaica (PFAJ), Edward Seaga, has called on the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to break its silence on the bribery claims that has left regional football bosses at the CONCACAF level in the cross hairs of the bitterly contested FIFA presidential elections, and to return any money it may have collected.
The incumbent Sepp Blatter was re-elected without opposition yesterday, but a blood trail of controversies, including allegations that members of CONCACAF received bribes of US$40,000; administered by suspended president Austin 'Jack' Warner to vote for ex-candidate Mohamed bin Hammam, was left in his wake.
Seaga, who is also a former prime minister of Jamaica and currently serves as chairman on the Premier League Clubs Association, has demanded that the leadership of the JFF come public with any involvement it may have had in the alleged 'buying' of votes.
Additionally, Seaga said that if the JFF had received any funds in relation to that scandal, the money should be returned.
He believes the integrity of the nation's football is under threat and everything should be done by local powers to protect the country's international image.
Seaga, however, didn't limit his cry for transparency and honesty to the JFF secretariat in New Kingston, but called on other Caribbean football bosses to do the same.
"To restore the integrity of the region, the present leaders of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) must call on all the federations which received and kept the 40 thousand US dollars (US$40,000) bribe to return it forthwith or face public disclosure of the identity of these Caribbean federations which are corrupt by holding the integrity of the region to ransom," read a statement released by Seaga.
"This act of corruption involves the reputation of the Caribbean football federations and has shamed the reputation of football, much to the great sorrow of lovers of the game and other well-thinking people," the statement continued.
Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday, Seaga believes that Jamaica's close relationship with Warner makes it one of the prime candidates for any bribery attempts, and the JFF's failure, up to this point, to provide information to the contrary, is damaging its reputation across the region and across the world.
"We are told that representatives of the countries of the region went to the meeting and they were alldirected to a room where they picked up a bag each," Seaga said.
"That's not evidence, but what is evidential is that a statement has not been made by the leadership of the JFF to say that we did not pick up any bags and we did not receive any funds, or we received and gave it back.
"We have not heard anything from the JFF and it's well known that it (JFF) is embarrassingly close to Warner. But again, I'm not targeting them I am targeting the entire CFU," Seaga argued.
"We can't get in touch with anybody (from the JFF) and nobody has said anything to us, so we are left to draw our own conclusions," Seaga lamented. "Nobody has said anything, the information we have had is more or less to the contrary, but we won't accept information like that as being evidential.
"However, they (JFF) should have given us some words of wisdom from the beginning," he concluded.
Meanwhile, neither JFF president Captain Horace Burrell nor general secretary Horace Reid could be reached for comment, as several calls to their cellphones went unanswered.
Published: Thursday | June 2, 20110 Comments
Seaga
André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
Chairman of the Professional Football Association of Jamaica (PFAJ), Edward Seaga, has called on the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to break its silence on the bribery claims that has left regional football bosses at the CONCACAF level in the cross hairs of the bitterly contested FIFA presidential elections, and to return any money it may have collected.
The incumbent Sepp Blatter was re-elected without opposition yesterday, but a blood trail of controversies, including allegations that members of CONCACAF received bribes of US$40,000; administered by suspended president Austin 'Jack' Warner to vote for ex-candidate Mohamed bin Hammam, was left in his wake.
Seaga, who is also a former prime minister of Jamaica and currently serves as chairman on the Premier League Clubs Association, has demanded that the leadership of the JFF come public with any involvement it may have had in the alleged 'buying' of votes.
Additionally, Seaga said that if the JFF had received any funds in relation to that scandal, the money should be returned.
He believes the integrity of the nation's football is under threat and everything should be done by local powers to protect the country's international image.
Seaga, however, didn't limit his cry for transparency and honesty to the JFF secretariat in New Kingston, but called on other Caribbean football bosses to do the same.
"To restore the integrity of the region, the present leaders of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) must call on all the federations which received and kept the 40 thousand US dollars (US$40,000) bribe to return it forthwith or face public disclosure of the identity of these Caribbean federations which are corrupt by holding the integrity of the region to ransom," read a statement released by Seaga.
"This act of corruption involves the reputation of the Caribbean football federations and has shamed the reputation of football, much to the great sorrow of lovers of the game and other well-thinking people," the statement continued.
Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday, Seaga believes that Jamaica's close relationship with Warner makes it one of the prime candidates for any bribery attempts, and the JFF's failure, up to this point, to provide information to the contrary, is damaging its reputation across the region and across the world.
"We are told that representatives of the countries of the region went to the meeting and they were alldirected to a room where they picked up a bag each," Seaga said.
"That's not evidence, but what is evidential is that a statement has not been made by the leadership of the JFF to say that we did not pick up any bags and we did not receive any funds, or we received and gave it back.
"We have not heard anything from the JFF and it's well known that it (JFF) is embarrassingly close to Warner. But again, I'm not targeting them I am targeting the entire CFU," Seaga argued.
"We can't get in touch with anybody (from the JFF) and nobody has said anything to us, so we are left to draw our own conclusions," Seaga lamented. "Nobody has said anything, the information we have had is more or less to the contrary, but we won't accept information like that as being evidential.
"However, they (JFF) should have given us some words of wisdom from the beginning," he concluded.
Meanwhile, neither JFF president Captain Horace Burrell nor general secretary Horace Reid could be reached for comment, as several calls to their cellphones went unanswered.
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