CONCACAF cheque controversy

[E-man]

CONCACAF cheque controversy.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).

T&TFF tight-lipped over W/Cup cash

The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) have apparently honoured their commitment to give a portion of the country's World Cup qualifying bonus to the Soca Warriors for donation to charity.

The World Cup players each recently received cheques, dated January 25, 2008, for TT$10,534 (US$1,685.45) believed to represent part of their controversial 2006 World Cup pact. The money is supposedly a portion of the TT$43.5 million (7 million Swiss francs) paid by FIFA to all World Cup participants.

The Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT) claimed that the 16 players who are taking legal action against the T&TFF have offered to donate their cheques to the fledgling organisation.

Privately, though, several players expressed surprise that the cheque they were handed bore CONCACAF's address rather than the T&TFF's. Did some of Trinidad and Tobago 's World Cup money find its way into a CONCACAF account?

CONCACAF vice-president and T&TFF special advisor Jack Warner, who drafted the controversial 2006 World Cup pact, did not shed any light.

"I do not know anything about that," Warner told the Express.

Warner's financial dealings centred on the prestigious tournament have been a regular source of embarrassment for FIFA. A FIFA vice-president, Warner was found guilty of breaching the world governing body's Code of Ethics in 2006 regarding his involvement in the sale of Trinidad and Tobago 's World Cup tickets through then family owned travel company, Simpaul.

T&TFF president Oliver Camps claimed to be unaware, at the time, that Simpaul belonged to the Warner family. Camps pleaded ignorance again as regards the CONCACAF cheques distributed to the World Cup players.

"I know nothing about that and I am not in a position to talk to you about that right now," said Camps, who claimed to be attending a function at the time of the Express enquiry.

The Express was provided with copies of two cheques given to Soca Warriors. If Camps and Warner are to be taken at their word, TT$242,282 (US$38,765)-the total sum for all 23 players-was paid by CONCACAF on behalf of the T&TFF without the president of either organisation being told.

Next month, the T&TFF and 16 Warriors go before the Sports Resolution Dispute Chamber in London where arbitrator, QC Ian Mills, will rule whether the players are entitled to any financial remuneration from the association's World Cup bounty.

If Mills finds in favour of the players, he is expected to order a detailed audit of the T&TFF's accounts to determine how much money was banked on the road to Germany 2006. Whether or not FIFA probes how CONCACAF managed to link itself to this controversial financial pact, Mills would expect to be shown where Trinidad and Tobago 's World Cup largesse is parked at present.

The T&TFF declared their World Cup earnings to be $18,255,952 and claimed to be on the verge of bankruptcy last March when they suspended all football programs and threatened to withdraw from the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup unless the Trinidad and Tobago government offered more financial support.

The local government later insisted that the Federation, which was registered as a private company by Camps immediately before the tournament, received well over $173 million during their World Cup campaign.

Cheques handed out to several World Cup players suggest that at least some of Trinidad and Tobago 's World Cup money ended up in the Florida bank account of an organisation presided over by Warner. Neither Warner nor Camps claimed to know about it.


Miami Address: One of the 23 cheques paid to the Soca Warriors.

Related News

Statement from the TTFF.

World Cup players donations to FPATT.

[weary1969]

Just finish reading it on d internet express. From what I know thatis d money is what FIFA gave as a bonus for qualifyin. Dat eh have nutten 2 do with d 30 then 50 % that was 5000TT.

Which organization you know employees will receive over 10,000 US and dey employer eh know how they receive it? D answer d TTFF.

I hope d local base who stickin 2 join FPATT because d WC players only want money will get off their laurels and sign up. They give all d money 2 FPATT because dey tryin 2 secure their future they just not smart enough to figure dat out.

Round 1 to  Shaka, Jack, Sancho, Andrews, Wise, A.John, S John, Whitley, Gray, Birchall, Samuel, Jones, Cox, Charles, Wolf e and Glenn.

Evil will only prevail when good men do nothing. 16 good men named

[WestCoast]

Round 1 to  Shaka, Jack, Sancho, Andrews, Wise, A.John, S John, Whitley, Gray, Birchall, Samuel, Jones, Cox, Charles, Wolf e and Glenn.

Evil will only prevail when good men do nothing. 16 good men named

well said

[kentsoulman]

Well, I think its unfair of this journalist to expect Mr Warner to know anything about payments made by concacaf to T&T footballers, or Mr Camps to know why his players are not getting their money from TTFF.

You have to remember that these people get paid big salaries to run these organisations. You can't expect them to know every tiny detail. After all, this is only money. They must have much more important things to worry about, such as what to have for lunch, or which tie to wear tomorrow. Paying money out of completely the wrong  account belonging to an unconnected organisation happens all the time in business.

Come on guys, how many times do you hear that a KFC employee got paid by Pizza Hut by mistake. Happens all the time, right?

Obviously some young trainee at TTFF was asked to pay the players and he mistakenly picked up the details of the concacaf account that were lying around the TTFF office and told the bank to pay the money from that account. The bank teller forgot to check that this guy had the authority to make concacaf payments. Easy mistakes to make.

The only thing that puzzles me is why concacaf have a Trinidad bank account? Surely it should be in New York-isn't that where their head office is?

But there must be a good reason for all of this, otherwise Mr Camps and Mr Warner would be concerned.

[WestCoast]

But there must be a good reason for all of this, otherwise Mr Camps and Mr Warner would be concerned.

good point

[Observer]

Well, I think its unfair of this journalist to expect Mr Warner to know anything about payments made by concacaf to T&T footballers, or Mr Camps to know why his players are not getting their money from TTFF.

You have to remember that these people get paid big salaries to run these organisations. You can't expect them to know every tiny detail. After all, this is only money. They must have much more important things to worry about, such as what to have for lunch, or which tie to wear tomorrow. Paying money out of completely the wrong  account belonging to an unconnected organisation happens all the time in business.

Come on guys, how many times do you hear that a KFC employee got paid by Pizza Hut by mistake. Happens all the time, right?

Obviously some young trainee at TTFF was asked to pay the players and he mistakenly picked up the details of the concacaf account that were lying around the TTFF office and told the bank to pay the money from that account. The bank teller forgot to check that this guy had the authority to make concacaf payments. Easy mistakes to make.

The only thing that puzzles me is why concacaf have a Trinidad bank account? Surely it should be in New York-isn't that where their head office is?

But there must be a good reason for all of this, otherwise Mr Camps and Mr Warner would be concerned.

Surely you jest!!!!

[Bakes]

Surely you jest!!!!

His post is dripping with sarcasm...as I read it.


At any rate, I think folks are making an entirely bigger deal out of this than it actually is.  Additionally...it's $10,000 TT, not US.

[pardners]

Surely you jest!!!!

His post is dripping with sarcasm...as I read it.


At any rate, I think folks are making an entirely bigger deal out of this than it actually is. Additionally...it's $10,000 TT, not US.

BnS, yuh probably right.  I understand the guys not really making a big deal of this.  They all giving their cheques to FPATT to do the needful.  After the arbitration that would be a house of a different colour though.

[superoli]

this might not mean much unless a certain Jack warner did not open a bank account under a company name whose acronym spells
C.O.N.C.A.C.A.F

[Bakes]

BnS, yuh probably right.  I understand the guys not really making a big deal of this.  They all giving their cheques to FPATT to do the needful.  After the arbitration that would be a house of a different colour though.

That is a very good gesture on the parts of those players...$1600 US is nothing to sneeze at, but I'm sure for them it's a small sacrifice that they can more or less live with if it is to help seed FPATT.....and yeah, once the arbitration is over it should be a horse of a different color indeed.

[Bakes]

this might not mean much unless a certain Jack warner did not open a bank account under a company name whose acronym spells
C.O.N.C.A.C.A.F

Well you can hang onto it and hope it amounts to something, but as I said elsewhere on the topic

The money is owed by the TTFF to the players.  The money will eventually come from the TTFF's account.  TTFF gets a periodic allottment of cash from CONCACAF (as do all member federations).  The money is being touted as an advance on that allottment.  Nothing illegal.


Creative accounting...courting reprimand maybe.  Illegal...no.

...I really don't see what the big to-do is all about.  Local journalists looking for a story where there is none.  The method my give their accountant nightmares and they won't get any ISO 9001 points for it...but at the end of the day there's nothing illegal or even unscrupulous about it as I see it.

[kentsoulman]

Surely you jest!!!!

His post is dripping with sarcasm...as I read it.


At any rate, I think folks are making an entirely bigger deal out of this than it actually is.  Additionally...it's $10,000 TT, not US.

Yes, my apologies, sarcasm once was described as a low form of humour, but high form of intelligence!

However, I think this is a MASSIVE story. True, the players agreed to donate this money before the World Cup, but its the method of payment that is shocking. It looks like TTFF have witheld this money for nearly 2 years and it has disapeared and re emerged in a concacaf account.
Surely people in the USA, Mexico, Canada and every other Concacaf country have a right to know what the hell is going on. If this happened in UEFA, people would be suspended pending investigations.
This could be the beginning of the end for Mr Warner, but nobody here seems concerned.
Hence the sarcasm!

[WestCoast]

This could be the beginning of the end for Mr Warner, but nobody here seems concerned.

We can ONLY hope that Warner starts to change the WAY he does things as I believe that he is here till the "End"

[dcs]

Much ado about nothing.

They can donate their money anywhere they want but FPATT count as a charity...thought it was more a union?  Ah kinda more thinking along the lines of registered as non-profit and have charitable status.  Den again officially in T&T  FPATT = Family Planning Association of T&T  lol

TTFF gets money from CONCACAF every year....they basically counting it against future payments.  I pretty sure some of the other cash strapped CONCACAF nations have done the same in the past considering is JW wit his "flexible" arrangements. 
Only thing would make this a worthwhile story is if the other CONCACAF nations have an issue with it or if it is not something other CONCACAF nations have requested and received (feel like i type this before).

[superoli]

people dont seem concerned that JW has opened a company with the same acronym as CONCACAF ?

who do you think the FIFA cheques were made out to ?

[kentsoulman]

Much ado about nothing.

They can donate their money anywhere they want but FPATT count as a charity...thought it was more a union?  Ah kinda more thinking along the lines of registered as non-profit and have charitable status.  Den again officially in T&T  FPATT = Family Planning Association of T&T  lol

TTFF gets money from CONCACAF every year....they basically counting it against future payments.  I pretty sure some of the other cash strapped CONCACAF nations have done the same in the past considering is JW wit his "flexible" arrangements. 
Only thing would make this a worthwhile story is if the other CONCACAF nations have an issue with it or if it is not something other CONCACAF nations have requested and received (feel like i type this before).

I don't agree. Its one thing concacaf giving an advance to TTFF and quite another having concacaf paying players direct. Its not good  business, and makes accounting a nightmare. Anyway, this money was trusted to TTFF. It was never their money, so how come they haven't got it now?

I would be interested to see the official approval for the transfer of concacaf funds, and I feel that they should be made to produce it.

[Bakes]

Much ado about nothing.

They can donate their money anywhere they want but FPATT count as a charity...thought it was more a union?  Ah kinda more thinking along the lines of registered as non-profit and have charitable status.   Den again officially in T&T  FPATT = Family Planning Association of T&T  lol

TTFF gets money from CONCACAF every year....they basically counting it against future payments.  I pretty sure some of the other cash strapped CONCACAF nations have done the same in the past considering is JW wit his "flexible" arrangements. 
Only thing would make this a worthwhile story is if the other CONCACAF nations have an issue with it or if it is not something other CONCACAF nations have requested and received (feel like i type this before).

Haven't you answered your own question?  Unions by nature are non-profits.  Any donation to a non-profit counts as a charitable donation.


Kent, you're trying hard but I don't think you're going anywhere.  Doesn't matter if the checks came out of a CONCACAF account or not.  Yes, we know it's creative accounting and not sound business practice...but at the end of the day if the money counts against the TTFF's allottment then that is all that matters.  All Jack needs to do is draw up a Memorandum of Understanding that states the nature of the transaction, have the TTFF sign off (even now, after the fact) and have it count as an IOU.  There are many things that Jack needs to be pilloried for...this one hardly registers on the radar.

[elan]

I just looking at the cheque....I am a little comfused---------it is a republic bank cheque with Bank of America N.A insignia at the bottom, signed by CONCACAF to Trinidad players and know one knows who wrote the cheques.

KSM I think I understand what you saying.

[Midknight]

Welcome to the FIFA school of Business Studies

Here is your timetable for your first semester :

-Creative Accounting 101 (mandatory) - Pr. A. Warner
-Ethics Committee Mismanagement (mandatory) - Dr. J. Blatter

-Handling Adversity (or how to get a promotion after screwing up) (optional)- J Valcke
-Avoiding Basic Mistakes - S. McBeth (optional)

[WestCoast]

Welcome to the FIFA school of Business Studies
Here is your timetable for your first semester :

-Creative Accounting 101 (mandatory) - Pr. A. Warner
-Ethics Committee Mismanagement (mandatory) - Dr. J. Blatter
-Handling Adversity (or how to get a promotion after screwing up) (optional)- J Valcke
-Avoiding Basic Mistakes - S. McBeth (optional)

wha are de prerequisites for dem courses and are they available in de continuing education department?
fowl tiefin, mango tiefin, puttin water in coal to make it weigh more and/or givin people ah 6 for ah 9? 

[E-man]

Please note that Oliver Camps chairs the (real) CONCACAF finance committee 

http://www.concacaf.com/committees_legal.asp

[doc]

That CONCACAF may be the company that was involved in the 2001 stadia projects as consultants. Another one of JW's creations

[superoli]

that is exactly the one .........how the hell can you form a company and call it CONCACAF ?

[Coop's]

I'm going to repeat myself on here again "Jack Warner" is a boss,look how every thing unfolding and he is going to come out unscratched,i don't know if you all understand JW owns/controls in some way all aspects of Football in our part of the world,he pulls out everybody when ever they have their problems,financially and otherwise,he does them favours,they all vote for him in return,is they that have him there,nobody turning their backs on him when he has his problems,the only people that don't like Jack is his own people.

Some people so dislike and want to nail Jack that don't matter what he does they trying to find something to say alright we get him,the man is a professional dealing with amateurs and that's why he wins,he has every possible scenario catered for because he plans ahead and have his lawyers to back him up,one thing no one has to worry about is where he getting money to pay any thing,he always has the last laugh.

I know everybody think the players won but i don't think so,look at what's going on with our Football since the WC we still can't catch ourselves,players struggling for contracts,who have sitting down on Bench,problems to get release to play for the national team,Coaches problems at all levels etc etc so what have they won,the people who have won is FPATT because that's who gets the money eventually,i can't believe all the fuss and sacrifice these players went through boils down to this,will it make our Football any better it's left to be seen because the main cause is still there.

I'm not a JW fan just sharing my thoughts/views.

[weary1969]

Let's do some maths. The checque in d article say 685 US so with 16 players involve that makes it 10960 US dollars. D TT equivalent is app 4000 per person.

Move 2 d head of d class d man who figure out that is not d CONCACAF that situated in New York. D peeps in d UK eh so bright they say that d players get pay with money from CONCACAF

[WestCoast]

that is exactly the one .........how the hell can you form a company and call it CONCACAF ?

psssssssssst.................[size=05pt]jack warner[/size]

[weary1969]

Coops I see where u comin from but on d field thinks will never get betta once he involve in football. D players win because they get 4000TT to go with d 5000 he give them b4. If they did not stand up 4 d correck ting dey would a get nutten.

[redtrinigirl]

Kentsoulman, let me clarify a few things for you (and others):

1) The headquarters of CONCACAF IS REGISTERED IN TRINIDAD, therefore their accounts would be held at a Trini bank. Or at least the major operating ones.

2) Any bank accounts using foreign currency, i.e US$ accounts, are held at the local bank, but drawn on the foreign account of said bank in the country of the currency's origin. eg. RBTT's  Pound Sterling accounts are held with Natwest Bank Plc in England.

There is absolutely nothing shady about the cheque itself. Only question there is why is CONCACAF paying a TTFF payment. Which in itself be answered by the fact that the FIFA original payment may have been made to CONCACAF to distribute to the local TTFF, which is up for argument.

[kentsoulman]

That CONCACAF may be the company that was involved in the 2001 stadia projects as consultants. Another one of JW's creations

  Tell me more!

[weary1969]

To organize d under 17 WC in 2001 Jw opened a company named CONCACAF. So is dem who pay d money.