NEW YORK, United States CMC – Interim CONCACAF president Lisle Austin has been provisionally suspended, in the latest twist in the ongoing power struggle within the organisation.
A formal release from the US-based body said yesterday that the majority of CONCACAF Executive Committee members had taken the decision for what was described as “apparent infringement of the CONCACAF Statutes”.
The suspension was supposed to have taken effect on Thursday.
“Lisle Austin has been provisionally banned from all football activities within CONCACAF and at the national level by a majority of the CONCACAF Executive Committee members for apparent infringement of the CONCACAF Statutes,” the CONCACAF statement read.
“Notice of this suspension is being sent to FIFA to be extended worldwide.”
Austin has been embroiled in a confrontation with general secretary Chuck Blazer ever since he replaced Jack Warner as president last Monday, and claimed to have axed the American earlier this week.
A CONCACAF statement out of the New York-based office rejected Austin’s assertion that Blazer had been fired, only for Austin to issue a counter-claim from Trinidad and Tobago.
The frequent exchanges have exposed the deep divisions in the continental governing body for football in North, Central America and the Caribbean ever since Warner’s removal, pending an investigation into corruption allegations.
Barbadian Austin, a senior CONCACAF vice-president, will remain suspended until the matter is heard on July 13 but can appeal to the Executive Committee before June 13.
The statement said the decision had been faxed to Austin and a copy sent to the Barbados Football Association. Honduran Alfredo Hawit, a senior vice-president of CONCACAF, has been installed as the acting president.
Hawit, along with other executive committee members – Mexican vice-president Justino Compean, Ariel Alvarado of Panama and American Sunil Gulati, met to decide Austin’s fate.