President of the Anguilla Football Association (AFA), Raymond Guishard, has dismissed allegations of misappropriating funds, from the International Football Federation (FIFA) for the completion of the National Football Stadium.
He brushed aside the charges on Tuesday at a media briefing accompanied by General Secretary, Alkins Rogers. Both of them presented a number of documents in support of the work on what is now described as a state-of the art facility – though a second phase is still on the planning board.
Mr. Guishard and Mr. Rogers were responding to an article in The Economist which charged,among other things,that the stadium was “a small grandstand with broken-down fencing, chickens pecking at the weed-strewn, bumpy pitch and offices that are empty and generally unused, with computer terminals still in plastic.”
The two AFA officials met with the media in the Association’s large, well-laid out and decorated conference room, and later took them on a tour which,among other facilities, showcased a number of posh occupied offices, and a well-furnished twin gym with dual space to accommodate changing areas for players. It is a well-designed and spacious building which is further enhanced by an array of white and blue spectator seats in the formation of AFA – the Anguilla Football Association’s initials. The stadium opens up to a well-kept field which is in constant use.
Among the documents referred to above was a letter from FIFA, before The Economist’s article, giving assent to an independent audit which was undertaken by KPMG in March this year. The documents also showed plans for the construction of twelve dormitories and a kitchen during this year.
Mr. Rogers, who gave the opening remarks, told the media that the allegations contained in the article “have proven erroneous and unfortunate.” He added: “I think that everyone who has visited and has received information about what has transpired in football over the years, would actually see a different picture and commend the Football Association for what it has done in Anguilla.” He also said that unlike the football executives in other islands, who were well-paid, those in Anguilla were only accepting travel allowance equating to ten dollars a day.
Mr. Rogers said while FIFA and Mr.Guishard were not inclined to respond to the allegations, he felt: “Let’s deal with it. Let’s get it out. Get the ok from FIFA and show that there is nothing to hide. Leave the press or anybody else come in and give them all the documentation as to how the monies were, and are, being spent.”
Mr.Guishard said that from 2002 the Football Association had decided to embark on a building to serve as a home for players and had appropriated all of its funds towards that end. He stated that FIFA had contributed US$400,000 to build an office, but the AFA worked towards having the present building and a separate playing field, with the money for labour being raised in Anguilla and sent to FIFA.
He denied that US$650,000 was misused and referred to a FIFA booklet with regulations stipulating how funds it provided were to be spent. “KPMG was here [in March this year] looking at how we spent the money, and here is a copy of that report,” he told the media. He spoke of EC$500,000 provided by the Anguilla Government which was used to purchase the sheeting for the steel frame which did not come with the stadium purchased from a portion of the US$400,000 from FIFA. He also spoke about a ten-year loan of US$200,000 from the National Bank of Anguilla for seating accommodation – and other money which AFA was still spending on the further development of the project.
Mr. Guishard described the allegations of misappropriation of FIFA funds as “blatant lies” written by “someone who was never in the building.” He went on: “There are people in Anguilla who are starting to believe that we really did something wrong with the money…[but] … we have a report from FIFA on our budget—on how we spent it and FIFA giving us their approval.” He said that the Anguilla Football Association was one of 209 annual recipients of US$250,000 in grant funds from FIFA, and that part of Anguilla’s allocation this year would be used to send a football team to a compete in tournaments outside the island later on.
Mr. Guishard and Mr. Rogers said they had called the press conference to clear the air with respect to the allegations.
