Audio By Carbonatix
A member of FIFA's financial monitoring panel has been stood down from duty while implicated in financial corruption.
Canover Watson was questioned last month by police anti-corruption and financial crime units in his native Cayman Islands. He denies wrongdoing.
FIFA said on Tuesday that audit committee chairman Domenico Scala "decided to temporarily relieve until further notice Canover Watson, to whom the presumption of innocence applies."
The eight-member panel is next scheduled to meet on December 16 in Morocco, on the sidelines of the Club World Cup.
It was formed in 2012, and scrutinises FIFA's US$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.
Latest Stories
-
Man, 20, drowns while helping travellers cross Ghana-Togo border river
48 seconds -
Top 10 online bill payment platforms in Nigeria
6 minutes -
Fire destroys more than 27 wooden structures at Spintex Coastal junction
9 minutes -
GoldBod: Day of reckoning will come – Afenyo-Markin
12 minutes -
In Photos: Defence Ministry welcomes Kenneth Gilbert Adjei as new Defence Minister
22 minutes -
CSA fines EY Ghana GH¢360,000 for providing cybersecurity services without a licence
30 minutes -
Bonsu Baah scores and assists in Al Qadsiah big win in Saudi King’s Cup
30 minutes -
The Galamsey war and GWL’s fictitious and inaccurate rebuttal
43 minutes -
Afenyo-Markin demands answers over alleged GH¢22bn GoldBod loss
44 minutes -
GoldBod ‘Losses’: We’re not ignorant, we know our job – Afenyo-Markin
47 minutes -
GoldBod cannot hide behind agency role to escape accountability – Afenyo-Markin
58 minutes -
‘You don’t get to keep the fees and disown the costs’ – Afenyo-Markin challenges GoldBod
1 hour -
GNPC turns 40, targets oil production recovery and $3.5bn fresh investment
1 hour -
Minority will speak boldly on GoldBod losses despite attacks – Afenyo-Markin vows
1 hour -
Moody’s upgrades EBID rating to B1, citing stronger finances and shareholder support
1 hour