Football
ESPN staff 10y

Canover Watson removed from FIFA watchdog role

One of the eight members of FIFA's financial watchdog has been relieved of his role temporarily pending the outcome of a police investigation.

Canover Watson, a vice president of the Caribbean Football Union and member of FIFA's audit and compliance committee, was arrested by police in the Cayman Islands on suspicion of corruption and money laundering.

He has been bailed until Sept. 29 but committee chairman Domenico Scala has announced Watson has been relieved of his duties until the outcome of the investigation.

Scala said in a statement: "After a preliminary clarification of the facts of the case and the allegations of the Cayman Island investigating authorities against Canover Watson, no connection with football and/or his role at association level has been established at this stage. The investigation continues.

"The chairman has decided to temporarily relieve until further notice Canover Watson, to whom the presumption of innocence applies, of his duties on the FIFA audit and compliance committee. This should not be regarded as routine procedure, because cases like this or of this nature must always be assessed on their individual merits.''

Watson, 43, issued a statement earlier in September insisting he was innocent of all wrongdoing.

The eight-member panel is next scheduled to meet on Dec. 16 in Morocco, on the sidelines of the Club World Cup.

It was formed in 2012, and scrutinizes FIFA's $1 billion-plus annual revenue and commercial contracts.

Scala's team has intervened to block some of FIFA's 209 member federations applying for development grants.

Watson is a director of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange and treasurer of the islands' football federation.

He is a close associate of federation leader Jeffrey Webb, a FIFA vice president and president of CONCACAF.

FIFA said the police investigation was not linked to Watson's work in football.

"After a preliminary clarification of the facts of the case and the allegations of the Cayman Island investigating authorities against Canover Watson, no connection with football and/or his role at association level has been established at this stage,'' football's governing body said in a statement.

Local media reported the case involves a 2010 contract to supply public hospitals with swipe-card billing technology.

Information from Press Association and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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