By Paul Nicholson
February 1 – Hillaren Frederick, president of the U.S. Virgin Islands Soccer Federation, has hit back at the four members of his executive committee who tried to suspend him and two other exco members, saying that the allegations of financial negligence are untrue and that it is “merely an attempted coup”.
A press conference that began with Frederick addressing the allegations against him, but became confrontational when the three members who had tried to suspend Frederick – now suspended themselves by the USVI’s Disciplinary Committee – turned up to question him and make further accusations.
FIFA and CONCACAF representatives were in St Thomas yesterday evening talking to USVI football “stakeholders”. FIFA had asked Frederick to convene the meeting “to discuss the issues of mutual interest and concern within football in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
Frederick addressed the allegations of mismanagement in his press conference saying: “From possibly committing conflict of interest situations, making check request for USVISA funds to secure personal loans, blatantly not respecting fiduciary responsibilities are just a few things that the disgruntled four has against me as president because I put my foot down by telling them ‘no’; that’s why we are here today.
“I would like the public to know my administration and office holds up the highest standard for financial reporting and documentation,” he continued.
“We carry out annual audits with a reputable auditory firm which is headquartered in the USA and have offices in the USVI. We have on staff a qualified and highly respected book keeper who keeps track of our financial reporting to local and federal agencies for us to remain in good standing. USVISA passed its audits with flying colors now that disgruntled four is questioning the integrity of these professionals who keep the USVISA in compliance with FIFA, CONCACAF, local and Federal Agencies.”
Frederick blamed the current financial situation where some suppliers have gone unpaid as well as staff as being “created by some of the disgruntled members who voted to host an unbudgeted four team tournament on St. Thomas in July 2016. We have failed to recover to a point where all vendors are compensated adequately.”
Frederick said he had the 2015 audit reports available for inspection and that the 2016 audit was still being completed.
His comments were hotly contested by suspended executive member Ferdinand Francis who called him a “liar”, warning him that: “If you don’t watch yourself, after today, we’re taking this to the attorney general, that’s where it’s going. It’s corruption in the Virgin Islands. We’re fed up of it. We can’t take it no more.” Francis did not detail his allegations
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