FIFA probe 16 Caribbean officials in Bin Hammam case

World football's governing body FIFA said Thursday it is investigating 16 Caribbean Football Union officials over a meeting during which disgraced Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam had been accused of buying votes. "The FIFA Ethics Committee has today opened ethics proceedings against 16 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials in regard to apparent violations of the Code of Ethics connected to the investigation of the cases related to the special meeting of the CFU held in Trinidad & Tobago on 10 and 11 May 2011," said FIFA. One of the officials under investigation, Guyana's Colin Klass, has been provisionally suspended, added FIFA. Bin Hammam was banned from football for life in July, after he was found guilty of seeking to buy votes in the FIFA presidential election by offering cash gifts of $40,000 each to delegates at the CFU get-together. "It is important to note that the investigations are still ongoing, and that it is therefore possible that further proceedings could be opened in the future," said FIFA. Besides Klass, the other officials were named as David Hinds, Mark Bob Forde (Barbados), Franka Pickering, Aubrey Liburd (British Virgin Islands), David Frederick (Cayman Islands) and Osiris Guzman, Felix Ledesma (Dominican Republic). The list is made up of Noel Adonis (Guyana), Yves Jean-Bart (Haiti), Anthony Johnson (St. Kitts and Nevis), Patrick Mathurin (St. Lucia), Joseph Delves, Ian Hypolite (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Richard Groden (Trinidad and Tobago) and Hillaren Frederick (US Virgin Islands)