FIFA looking into SVGFF financial dealings

The operations of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) have been placed under close scrutiny by football’s world governing body, FIFA.

And, operations which are at variance with FIFA’s regulations could have negative implications for the SVGFF, including a vote of no confidence.{{more}}

FIFA has identified several areas of concern, mainly of a financial nature, which were communicated in a letter dated May 5, 2014 to the general secretary of the SVGFF Trevor Michael Huggins.

In registering the organization’s concerns, FIFA’s general secretary Jerome Valcke wrote in direct response to the 2012 and 2013 audits : “A number of transfers have been made from the separate bank account (programme account) to another bank maintained by the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation without FIFA’s authorisation totaling EC$170,000 (USD 65,572).

“The budget is not properly monitored and there are huge deviations between the approved budget and the disbursed amounts per category without FIFA approval.

“Furthermore, SVGFF did not respect the obligation to spend at least 15 per cent of the FAP (Financial Assistance Programme) funds on women’s football,” noted the FIFA general secretary.

Valcke summed up: “The audit is not satisfactory at all and showed major deficiencies which require further clarification.”

However, president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation Venold Coombs, in his usual style, told SEARCHLIGHT: “The FCIB transfer is the internal mechanism with the bank, which they take funds from an account that is liquid to supplement one where you are in deficit… The FIFA account was deducted within the banking system … FIFA does not like that, because they look at it as a transaction is taking place, basically with what you have not sent documentation.”

Coombs said that it was unfortunate that such a privileged document should have reached members of the general public and hinted at some internal forces within the executive who, he suspects, leaked the document.

Coombs noted that efforts are being made to explain the procedural hiccups.

“What we are doing simply with FIFA is to explain that and present the necessary documentation. There are other sources that are telling FIFA about the banking environment down here and how the system is operated,” Coombs added.

“It has happened before in St Vincent and it will continue to happen…. It is nothing new; it (has) happened under all the previous administrations, where FIFA issued penalties, where FIFA hold up money because they want you to rectify your documents… FIFA looks at the slightest thing as a breach… If they suspend you, there is nothing big about that … You then have to correct the information to get back funds,” Coombs said with a little chuckle.

Coombs dismissed having the FAP suspended and counteracted that by saying: “There is a half a million dollars that we are about to receive; that is to give to the clubs them for their cash prizes… We are waiting on that money to send the Under-20 male team to Cuba.”

When quizzed about the mutterings of a vote of no confidence being hatched against him, Coombs was confident that if things came to a vote of no confidence, it would not succeed.

Listing a number of things which his executive has achieved since taking office in September 2011, Coombs counteracted “What are you going talking about ‘no confidence;’ it should be a confidence in the best performing executive that you ever had … The records are there.”

Coombs also denied that he asked president of CONCACAF Jeffrey Webb to intervene on his behalf on the matter of the financial breaches, while Webb was here on an official visit here last month.

“Beg Webb to bring more aid to St Vincent, send more money which we are getting … We have already secured close to three million dollars to repair a building… We are just waiting on the legal transactions…Those are the begging, I beg.”

This is not the first time that the Coombs-led administration has been questioned about its handling of the FAP funds.

In November of last year, affiliates were summoned to a meeting following the resignation of then first vice-president Lloyd Small, who revealed that an amount in excess of $96,000 was unaccounted for.

The unaccounted funds were later reconciled and this was communicated to the affiliates in a special meeting last January.(RT)