Austin: Meeting to remove me illegal

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Interim CONCACAF president Lisle Austin yesterday branded as "illegal" a decision by the executive committee to oust him from the post as internal divisions in the continental governing body continued to deepen.

Austin, who replaced Jack Warner in the position last Sunday after the Trinidadian was suspended by FIFA's ethics committee, also rejected the assertion he had been replaced as president, and again charged that CONCACAF's online media arm was being used to "wage war" against him.

His claims came after a formal release from the New York-based CONCACAF office said yesterday that the majority of executive committee members had taken the decision to suspend Austin for an "apparent infringement of the CONCACAF statutes".

"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."

But Austin, in a statement released here, said any meeting held without his sanction was also a contravention of CONCACAF statues.

"It necessarily follows that if the president did not convene or did not chair any meeting of the executive committee that any actions taken or decisions reached at said meeting are not only unenforceable, but are ultra vires (invalid)," the statement read.

Austin also said the committee had "failed to engage in due process, which is required in any disciplinary matter but has flouted the very statutory requirements articulated in the CONCACAF statutes necessary to move in such a direction."

A senior CONCACAF vice-president, Austin noted he was unaware of the grounds for his suspension and described any charges against him as "baseless" and "trumped up".

Reject new appointment

He also rejected the appointment of senior vice-president Alfredo Hawit of Honduras as the new acting president, and warned member associations and staff against taking orders from Hawit, contending they would be "implicating themselves into illegal activities".

Further, the statement from Austin deemed the actions of the CONCACAF Media Department "illegal".

Austin has been at loggerheads with CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer since taking over the post of president last Monday and earlier this week claimed he had fired the American.

A release from CONCACAF in New York subsequently refuted that assertion, countering that Austin had acted without authority.

It was a report from Blazer coming out of a meeting here last month that triggered a bribery investigation by FIFA and led to the temporary suspension of Warner and Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam.