Central FC say Sancho not at fault

The media release stated, “due to changes in management and administration staff at the end of last season, club staff were under pressure to meet various CONCACAF Champions League deadlines, one of which was to submit the clubs bank details to receive CONCACAF funds.

“As the funds to be received from CONCACAF were to be despatched as US dollars and Central FC would be travelling to Los Angeles and Guatemala, it was decided that a US dollar account would be financially beneficial. However, Central FC had not opened the required US dollar account in time to adhere to the required CONCACAF deadline.” The media release continued, “it was decided that the details provided by Mr Sancho in December to the Caribbean Football Union would be submitted to CONCACAF and Central FC’s own bank account details would be submitted later.

“On 27th July, Central FC notified CONCACAF via email that they would be submitting new bank details the next day (28th July). Central FC’s new US dollar bank account details were despatched on 28th July to CONCACAF and their receipt was confirmed.” The club admitted that, “during this busy period for CONCACAF, the payment instructions were not altered and CONCACAF despatched the funds to Mr Sancho’s account in error.” The release added, “Central FC were expecting to receive funds into their account and it was several days before they realised that the funds were deposited into Mr Sancho’s account.

Mr Sancho immediately arranged to withdraw these funds and US$39,000 was paid by cheque to Central FC. Because this transaction would need to be declared, Mr Sancho had to determine the exact charges to be deducted before returning any balance to the club.

“Contrary to various inaccurate statements in the media, this transfer of funds did not hamper Central FC’s preparations in any way. Further, there was an ongoing dialogue throughout this period so that all parties were aware of the situation.” According to the media release, the club’s Directors emphatically declared that the story which was reported yesterday was designed to tarnish the reputation of the club as well as Sancho.