Webb charged in local fraud case
Ex-CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb in Zurich hours before his arrest by Swiss authorities
(CNS): The former FIFA vice president and local football boss, Jeffrey Webb, has been charged with fraud and breach of trust in relation to the local hospital card payment case. Canover Watson and Miriam Rodrigues are also facing further charges in relation to the ongoing local investigation into the CarePay Card contract, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)b said in a statement Friday. While Watson and Rodrigues are expected to appear in court Tuesday, a warrant has been issued for Webb’s arrest.
Officials said they were expecting to begin extradition proceedings to answer these charges, as Webb remains on remand in Switzerland, where he is already fighting extradition to the US in connection with the massive FIFA corruption probe.
Following months of speculation that Webb and others were also under investigation in relation to the $11 million contract award, a short statement was released Friday afternoon by ACC Chair David Baines, who is also the commissioner of police.
Canover Watson
Watson and Webb have been jointly charged with two counts of conspiracy to defraud which is contrary to common law, one count of breach of trust under the 2008 anti-corruption law and a charge of conspiracy to convert criminal property contrary to both the penal code and the proceeds of crime law. Watson’s former PA, Miriam Rodrigues, has also been charged with one count of conspiracy to convert criminal property.
Watson and Rodrigues are already scheduled to go on trial in November. The crown had successfully postponed an earlier trial in May after a trillion bytes of digital information was handed over to investigators in April in connection with the case from Watson’s former employer, Admiral Administration.
Watson already faces numerous charges in relation to the case, including six counts of money laundering in relation to around US$169,000 over an 18-month period between December 2010 and June 2012, when he was chair of the Health Services Authority (HSA) board. He is also charged with conflict of interest, failing to disclose a pecuniary interest, breach of trust and fraud.
Miriam Rodrigues faces fraud and money laundering charges.
The crown alleges Watson has direct connections to AIS and that he helped to secure the company two lucrative contacts at the hospital while he was the HSA board’s chair, which forms the basis of the corruption accusations. Prosecutors say that he created the bank accounts for the firm and told the principals what to say and do, which they claim is supported by email communication.
Both Watson and Rodrigues have denied all charges.
Miriam Rodriguez
Officials have not yet made any claims regarding the part they say Webb played in the local corruption case but it is understood that Webb was a close business associate of Watson and had a number of companies together. Watson was also a FIFA official before he was suspended from one of the organisations committees after he was charged in the local CarePay case.
The details of the charges against Webb are likely to remain under wraps for some considerable time as he is unlikely to be returned to Cayman anytime soon. On Thursday, an official extradition application was filed in Switzerland by the US authorities for Webb, who has been detained in a Zürich jail since he was arrested with six other FIFA officials in May.
Given the circumstances, the application by the Cayman authorities will take second place when filed against the background of the US request. Webb is understood to be fighting the extradition to the United States but there has been no indication whether he will also fight extradition to Cayman.
Yes finally got three Caymanians to justify their presence here After 50 years of them running things here and controlling and banking the money from numerous world financial scandals and drug traffickers. Wake up Caymanians you ain’t above the law and should no your place! Laundering money is above you pay grade Capiche?
I think that it would be at least about 15 to 20 years before Cayman would get it’s extradition order heard . This might be a ploy on Webb part.
As has been reiterated many times, there are apparently issues here, but in all of these comments and editorials I have yet to see an acknowledgement that some 50 percent of the population comes from outside the islands (on work permits). This is an important factor, as no one, including the handicapped Compass (missing some essrntial mental screws) has any legitimate way to determine the immigration status of offenders. So there is no way to determine with any accuracy if offenders are “steeped” in corruption or not — another reason to debunk that rather unfortunate, unfounded editorial.
Thanks for your analysis; you can go and bury your head in the sand again now knowing you’re a good, expat-hating patriot.
Thanks, Andy, at 9:50 — no one is “hating expats” — you are missing the point. The poster was reflecting on the editorial that condemned all Caymanians without having any evidence but flimsy rumours in a multi-cultural diverse population. This is a hard fact, and you don’t have to be on either side of the great divide to appreciate it. Unless, of course, you are more comfortable with name-calling rather than evidence-based debate.
To all those who get defensive when we remind people that we are a diverse pluralistic society whose workforce is 50% local, but are quite willing to see Legge’s wholesale condemnation — based on rumour and innuendo — of the local population as “truth,” I have one word, “stupid.”
Actually, that was a very sensible, balanced post. So unless you say that all crime in Cayman is committed by Caymanians you are an expat-hater? I think you have got it turned around. And from the number of likes you got we have got a real problem on our hands.
I like to compare the court lists with ancestry.com and seek the slightest hint of furriners over five generations for any mixed blood. If I cannot find any readily, I go by the nationality and origin of their pets or car. If that fails, I blame it on the status grants,evil spirits or outside influence from expats.
When you have no indigenous, true native population, 100 per cent of your population comes from outside of these islands so your research is pretty meaningless straight away.
To both Duncan and Judean People’s front: the poster is simply trying to convey, obviously unsuccessfully, that you simply cannot lay rumoured, alleged and uncorroborated charges of corruption at the feet of any one particular population group, racial or ethnic or otherwise, particularly in our diverse multicural mix. That was the fallacy of the Compass’ argument that have led us down the road of arguing a fallacy.
This is sad, as the Compass should be relied upon for thought leadership.
What is important is the content of character, not lineage of ancestors, and no ethnic or racial group has a corner on character — we have all sinned and come short.
So whether you are born here six generations ago or migrated here last week, it does not matter when it comes to character and the potential for corruption or sainthood. And we simply cannot judge without evidence before a court of law as to any particular member of any group.
This allegation by the Compass was so wrong! As stupid and unworthy as the basis for serious debate as Donald Trump’s charges about Mexican immigrants to the United States.
But it does trigger a fire storm — as Legge did and as Donald Trump is now doing — not because it is worthy of debate but because It is so outrageous.
So please stop saying that Legge was telling the truth, you all — Legge’s argument is based on a false premise — literally a falsehood. And he knows it and his editorial staff know it.
At last, someone who can see the problem! Let us gather pitchforks and burning torches, we should physically deport all of them. Oh wait …. Ok, same time tomorrow folks.
Thumbs up Mr. Baines. As a Caymanian I would like to see much more of this! Congratulations!
paper caymanian, I assume?
What like all those who settled here and didn’t become “Natives” until they had grandkids?
Blows my mind that people will not recognize where they came from, but are quick to shout racist rants at the drop of a hat.
To all the posters implying that Webb is now charged only because of his fall from grace — not at all true. As plagued by inefficiencies as we are in both the prosecution and the RCIPS, and as much as I am tantatalized by conspiracy theories as the next person, I still believe that they are going by the law on this. They have now tied up the case against Webb and are ready to prosecute. Let us not overthink this.
Take legitimate concerns and sweep them under the carpet. Move along there is nothing to see here and anyone who says otherwise is committing treason.
so paper caymanians are the only people who support the rule of law and order?
Your reply gives far more information than you ever imagined, proving David Legge accurate and highlighting the problem with securing successfull cases.
The law is for furriners, I born ya!
I’m a born Caymanian and totally agree also, keep the great work RCIPS ACU. Please rid this country of corruption we have been accepting as the norm for far too long.
Cayman does not need to beat itself to death over these revelations – this crap happens everywhere – not least in Mother England. What it DOES need to do is be honest and acknowledge that it DOES happens here.
Did the UDP and PPM Government declared where , who and how much money they received from unscrupulous sources on an individual basis? No, the laws protect them from disclosing their campaign funds and also party politics takes care of all that and if they did I bet you do not see from who. corruption is corruption regardless of who do it. I think the government should lead by examples. the worst corruption is the undisclosed one that goes on and on.
All-Done MAC-laughin’ will accuse you of treason for this because Cayman isn’t corrupt – except for the foreigners.
well if you bring in more than half the foreigners all MAClaughlins should know the truth to the statement that most crime by them
Bringing them is not the problem, keeping them here is another matter!
You are a liar and a racist. Your post just tries to encourage anti-Caymanian sentiment. The Premier has never once said anything of the sort.
YCLA is a bad joke.
Rubbish. The PPM publicly declared everyone who donated $5000 or more to their campaign. This is in their internal rules. I should know as I was one of the names declared. I have not asked for or been offered any favours of any kind. I cannot speak for the UDP.
And who polices that 2.56?
Go back in the Compass articles or ask the elections office for the filings and you will see that the PPM made full disclosure unlike the usual vague approach of the UDP.
Whoever whatever you are and wherever you from; why don’t you provide evidence of your accusations to the Police. If you have knowledge of the misdeeds you speak and do not report it you are just an useless zxxxxooor moron.
Dear Skeptical, I was with you until the end of the first sentence. The second, not so much. It must be clear to any one reading these comments in recent months that Caymanians do acknowledge that there are problems here, like every where else, unfortunately. What we have objected to is the demagoguery of the Compass (apologies for dredging up).
Legge’s editorial looks better every day that passes and our idiotic MLAs look more like sulky kids every day that passes. And it is not over yet.
And to think the poor man had to flee the Caymans for fear of his safety after he spoke the truth.
As a Caymanian, if Legge had toned down the general accusations and not used ‘all of us’ included in the corrupt processes, I would have been in support of him. He should have noted the minority of us who do stand up against corrupt processes and we are out there…. usually the victimised!
4:28 pm: I actually do not accept that the upstanding, law abiding citizens are in the minority. And Caymanians should not — this view is all based on faulty arguments by the Compass based on the same reasoning that led Donald Trump to condemn all Mexican immigrants for unspeakable crimes, with the lame proviso that he expects that “some” or a “few” ( forgot which term he used) are law abiding. These types of faulty arguments have no place in serious debate — and it is sad — and even despicable given their professional responsibilities — that we have a daily newspaper that cannot exercise greater care in how it editorialises. Or perhaps it is simply too difficult to hide your true colours.
Legge was more “all of you” rather than all of us. He didn’t include his esteem self or any member of his editorial board in the list of people steeped in a culture of corruption. However, when it suited his liking (being onstage with Ronald Reagan) he called Cayman “My country”.
David Legge probably took notice of how one Canadian newspaper handled the Ben Johnson story. Headlines of “Canada wins Olympic Gold” was followed the next day by “Jamaican born sprinter test positive for steroids”.
1:05 pm of 7/7: you put Legge in perspective very well!! I say to him, “Physician, heal thyself”! But then again, he is yesterday’s story — we do him too much credit.
It was only a matter of time..LoL
Does anyone know how Swiss extradition works if Webb doesn’t fight cayman request? Will they wait for outcome of US request or honor caymans? Does “jointly charged” mean they will be tried at same time and if so will this result in delays of currently pending carepay cases?
Whoopa!
Interesting times in these lickle islands we call Caymans, how are Duncan’s precious little angels who are all mixed up inna dis ya mess going to be held accountable for their actions or shall they once again get immunity from their handlers for their unlawful behavior. Mi nah no ow we an dem a goin wok this out sah!
Except that we do not call it ‘Caymans’ (nor ‘the Caymans’). (Your fake patois does not pass)
Soul searching yes Cayman this is what happens when you employ unscrupulous and opportunistic persons from overseas whom you falsely believe will be absolutely loyal to you in your corrupt and unlawful conduct, only to find out that you not them will end up in jail at the end of the day. Yaa cannnn hear you will feel! Webb as FIFA boss Pleeeease!!!don’t make me laugh not in this life time!
To Cayman heart: Your comment makes no sense. Get off the web site if you are not competent enough to write a sensible sentence.
Any imported labor or foreign blood is better for the job. Now, they are slowly realizing their fate. They’re exposing & jailing them slowly. Serves them right.
We have a lot of Donald Trumps on this site, the hate for Cayman and Caymanians is amazing!
Wait a minute …. Are you trying to say that this is the fault of foreigners too?
Why don’t you try and blame it on the status grants too or that he couldn’t get a decent job that paid millions! He is a son of the soil, the others linked in Cayman are too and it is nobody’s fault but theirs alone. Time for the rest of Cayman to admit that there is a lot of corruption here, take responsibility, own it and do something about it.
As you will soon see, if you don’t, the rest of the world will.
Da wha ya get!
Pathetic.
Waste of time
Is it still treason if an editorial is now proved to be accurate?
Ummm…how does this story prove the editorial (which suggests that we are all corrupt) accurate?
So the Cayman connection becomes more apparent. Even more links are about to appear as this unfolds. Couple this with the Bryce Merren drug dealing case unfolding and the details emerging, the news is looking bleak for these beloved Island.
Investigative journalists must be loving it right now.
If they are willing to brave allegations of Treason.
Not as much as A certain editor from the compass!
Oh oh. Any Turks connection?
Let’s have some investigative journalism — we see none of that in Cayman — what we have is reportage and cheap editorializing — these do not constitute investigative journalism. I would love for some of that to be done locally and to bring guilty parties to justice — but all we have is a rag of a newspaper that sits in its high towers and condemns all and sundry.
So spare me “investigative journalists must be loving it right now”!
CNS: For the record, we would love to do investigative journalism but it requires funds, time and resources that we just don’t have.
Who was referring to any investigative journalists here?
I wasn’t.
I wonder when he get extradited to Cayman which country he will be put on a flight to transit via, interesting times I must admit.
That might be part of Plan B. Extradited to Cayman and intercepted in Miami….
…and so it begins
Would he have been charged if he were still VP of FIFA? Time for some honest soul-searching, Cayman.
Yes, he would have been. This investigation has been on-going for over a year now and when the other related issues went to court he would have been publicly implicated. In fact for at least the last three months this has all been common knowledge in certain circles.
Then isn’t it a shame it took so long for us to do anything public, because it seems we have NEVER been first to charge a prominent Caymanian with serious wrongdoing.
right! because Cayman is steeped in corruption.
And yet nothing happened until after he had fallen from grace. Someone needs to explain the timing because it stinks to high heaven.
Convenient coincidence?
cayman does not do honest soul searching…..
Which country does?
No, it accuses newspapers of treason when it prints the truth.
Why did it take so long to name him as an alleged accomplice or co-conspitor in the CarePay case? I hope that the “usual tricks” of Cayman Islands (Government) wasn’t trying to shield him from further prosecution – for as long as they possibly could.
Did the FBI and USDOJ uncover more suspicious activity linked to Webb & Watson’s bank accounts that led to the CarePay Contract, that may highlight incompetence and/or corruption? Watson has been charged with fraud and money laundering for quite some time now, and the CI Legal Department is only now issuing an arrest warrant to other local affiliates i.e. Webb– Really?
Before Webb left for Switzerland with his Political buddies, he was still an admired public figure. Watson had already been arrested while Webb was free to a globe trot until recently.
Wow!!!
You do realise that that the Cayman govt. had nothing to do with this decision, right?
Odd nothing happened on this charge until after the FIFA charges. Too scared before? He was to powerful before? There needs to be a public explanation of why this charge is only being placed now.
In the early stages CIG was wishing it would all go away, but soon found out differently. Now they have the run with this CarePay case with a mirage that they were adamant about seeking justice and prosecuting it until the end. Pleeeeeeeease! ***Pure Window Dressing***
No, actually there doesn’t. Every prosecution must be seen to have the same basis: upholding the law. Remember what happened the last time the apparent motives for a prosecution became public? It’s obvious what has happened here, at least it is to me. Webb has been charged now because it is now in the public interest to charge him. Before the US charges, to charge him in CarePay would have been to tear down one of our own for a peripheral role in a not terribly exciting local matter, threatening his position within CONCACAF and FIFA which was bringing a measurably huge amount of positive attention and tourism/investment dollars at a time when we sorely needed both. It would have been McKeeva’s arrest all over again, only much worse: “FIFA VP charged in Cayman Islands corruption case”. It would have fed the international narrative about FIFA corruption AND Cayman shadiness and brought an overwhelming amount of negative attention to us. It was not ‘in the public interest’ to charge him at that time. I’m sorry to say, but that is the way the world works. That does not mean that he was never going to be charged, though; we can only speculate in that regard.
Contrast this with the present, where questions are being asked – quite properly – about how Fidelity and CIMA seemingly missed transfers, about the adequacy of the CIG response to the US charges, about why it took CIFA so very long to do anything about the situation, and the reasoning becomes quite clear. If we line up behind the US with charges of our own, we are insulated from the good majority of attacks we would otherwise receive from overseas. We are saying to the world: ‘can we have him back when you’re done, so we can throw our book at him too? He was one of our favourite sons, but we’re as disgusted as you are’. It’s in the public interest to do that, in fact it’s imperative for us to do that. We took a beating for the US charges; the best we can do is issue some of our own so that we can hold our heads high with the good guys. So there you go, that’s why.
We prosecute so as to uphold the law around here? Not based on the overt illegality we all see around is every day. In fact, we seem to do all we can not to uphold the law around here.
Did this poster basically say that it was right to turn a blind eye to possible criminal activity of someone if they are in high standing? They seem to have seriously posted this : “Before the US charges, to charge him in CarePay would have been to tear down one of our own for a peripheral role in a not terribly exciting local matter, threatening his position within CONCACAF and FIFA which was bringing a measurably huge amount of positive attention and tourism/investment dollars at a time when we sorely needed both.” Alden is looking like he is on shakier ground by the day with his treason rant.
No, I said that visibility and position can complicate the issuing of charges, that’s all. Nothing to do with being in ‘high standing’, whatever that is. Believe it or not, a government does occasionally have to choose between one of the many things it has to do, and another…
I enjoyed your defence of the indefensible. The “choice” seems to be between charging people suspected of corruption or turning a blind eye to corruption when doing something about it might be inconvenient.
So Legge is right.
They really did say that. Legge 1 Alden 0.
This proves Legge had a point. A majority of “thumbs up” to a post that advocates turning a blind eye to local corruption if the persons involved are prominent. Perhaps if the endemic low level corruption was taken more seriously then more suitable people would end up in prominent positions.
The poster and hence the thumbs up are not saying it’s right they are just explaining in their opinion how he system works.
Maybe just maybe the foreign roosters are crowing because the cayman corruption theme takes away any heat from their own nefarious activities.
Ah, the public interest. That lovely phrase than guarantees so many wrong doers in Cayman immunity from prosecution, and yet the Law I’d supposed to apply to all without fear or favor.
1.39 its not a matter of Mr. Webb being powerful, that just shows how the Cayman islands is such a lackey for other countries. If the legal department had anything on this man why did they not bring it forward? The Cayman Islands were enjoying the GLORY while his Glory of promoting them was shining high like a beacon. This is a crying shame on the legal department to use him to promote them then assist the United States as soon as Cayman stop receiving his glory. This is being done to assist the U.S. Maybe Switzerland wasn’t interested in the U.S. Don’t worry of Mrr. Webb, this too shall pass –
That’s two thirds of the CONCACAF trio… how long til the third is named? And can we get our own TV ad war going?
It seem like the Authorities here are helping the United States to fight their battles!!!!y
I hope they all know what they are doing.
You ought to practice some gratitude to the USA for showing you the way civilized people deal with creepy thieves
If you want to keep your “Heritage”, keep thinking like that!
The heritage is over there with the unicorn herd and my pet bigfoot.
The party done.
Or as one clever poster previously wrote… the party Can-over!
Your attention is much appreciated.
The Cayman Government and USDOJ also need to begin charging the lawyers and law firms that compose these disingenuous contracts/companies that violates their home laws. These lawyers get paid well for facilitating this sort of racket that expose stakeholders to undue risk. Let them too face the music.
People in Cayman is tired of discovering & contesting shady documents surrounding illicit dealings, where the courts too frequently favor the wrong, because their either too lazy, or conning, to give a fair and due process.
Regardless of their i.e. lawyers notoriety, their board memberships or political affiliations they too should be expose for their unethical practices and the resulting damages caused to stakeholders. There is so much unethical behavior among these legal gurus’ that has cause the demise of persons directly and indirectly tied to case matters/disputes.
Do these lawyers just prefer preparing documents (in clear violation of laws)? OR, do they just not understand the concept of (moral) integrity? OR, Did they fail, or were the absent for, their ethics exams – but were still awarded legal certifications?
CHARGE THEM i.e. Lawyers, TOO; ALONG WITH WEBB AND THE OTHERS! #ADisgustingBunch
I agree with you 10:53. This should also apply to the Justice of the Peace and Notary Public Members who knowingly violate law and code of ethics by rubber stamping documents with business associates, for close relatives, or friends for personal gains, or with their own personal agenda.
There are far too many documents existing in the Cayman Islands sphere that allude to the same bribery practices that Webb and Canova have been charged with. Some have been lodged with the courts and cases stalled by attorneys’ and court administrators who are protecting reputations by prohibiting prosecution.
And there is no task action or oversight committees to monitor the practices of administrators or officials within the judicial system, therefore criminals at varying levels of the institution and it processes prevail.
That goes too for the Audit firms who are supposed to be on top of things – who was the Auditing body for the organization?
Would it be very cynical to wonder if this is an attempt to get Webb to Cayman to protect him against extradition to the US.
@8:19pm, It won’t be long before the Cayman community find out the motive, including its impact to USDOJ extradition filings.
All will be clear, soon.
Yes, to the point of stupidity. I don’t know anything about Swiss law, but the US got there first, with much bigger charges. We won’t see any of Webb until the US are good and ready.
Then we can have him speak to our youth and inspire success in them.
why is he fighting extradition if he has nothing to hide?
Because you try to prove your innocence at the first hurdle, which is the extradition hearing. Unfortunately the guilty look like the innocent when charged.
Extradition hearings are not there to determine guilt or innocence so that is plain nonsense. The only way to clear your name is to face your accuser, not hide from him.
YCLA at its best!
You know what, if Jeff is guilty he will have to face the consequences for his actions. If he is innocent then his sufferings will make him stronger. None of us here on the island or elswhere really know exactly all that transpires but that still does not give the Editor of the Compass or anyone else the right to condem the entire population of the Cayman Islands. I know Jeff’s family, I know that his mother of blessed memory worked very hard to provide for him and his sister. I know that she did not teach him how to be dishonest or corrupt as some of you might think. Jeff did well for most of his life, he made his mark and made Cayman proud in the football realm. Perhaps he got greedy, perhaps he got involved in unscrupulous activities. I don’t know what happened. He should have known better but stuff like this happens all over the world. It is wrong but you better believe he won’t be the last unfortunately. Cayman did not write the book on crime , we are struggling with it as every other country / island in the world and insulting each other will never fix it. What we need to do, is each one determine in our heart that we will not be dishonest, we will not tell a lie, we will not mistreat any one. Honesty as well as dishonesty comes in all shades, all nationalities if we could do that we would soon realise that the world around us is changing. You will probably say that will never happen and you know what it won’t if we do not try. You know what, goodness and evil is like a ripple. When a pebble is thrown in to a body of water it causes a ripple effect. You can watch as it keeps going and going, it never stops. It can start in a little pond, and flow into a bigger pond, into a lake or the sea and just keep going on and on. Let us each throw a pebble of love, grace and peace and watch the ripples!
Good post. Our politicians and powerful people “think” and justify their crooked ways. Time to walk away from greed and shady deals. Ask if that deal is really legal or moral or right? Beg forgiveness and start on a better path. This includes hand outs for votes, fake work permits for friends, crony handshakes- get back to a moral true north if you are off course!
to 1.43 and 8.14 Thank you these are the only two blogs that make sense . The most of you who are writing have a tremendous amount of skeletons in your closet. Regardless of what you feel about Jeff Webb he is a darn good person, but as usual Caymanians only know you when you are in apposition to hand out to them. It’s a shame how Caymanians talk about their own. When Jeff Webb was where he was – dragging those whose who disliked him all their lives because of envy within the local foot ball, those who dis-liked him because he is the type of person that will excel no matter what. And you know why he excelled ?because he did not let critics drag him down. Jeff Webb has his country at heart it plain to see. You never walked in his shoes – you will never understand why a man like him fell from grace, you do not know what his surroundings were that perhaps has led him to all this . BUT I WILL GUARNTEE YOU JEFF WEBB WILL RISE AGAIN- Why he has a forgiving heart – and when it over I hope you all will shut up and start supporting your families and be of some use to your community. Ask God to change your heart for the better
Jeff was and is a jerk couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Only liked some in football that agreed with every word he had to say. Still the law says he is innocent until proven guilty.
11:38AM – Mackeeva… please. These are not blogs. This is not a blog.
These are comments on a news website. NOT blogs.
XXXXXXX