The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) is conducting an investigation into revelations that one of its executives deposited part of a $10 million FIFA bribe into a Nassau-based account.

A spokesperson at the bank’s Barbados-based head office, responding to Tribune Business inquiries, confirmed that it was conducting its “own review” after this newspaper exclusively revealed that a Bahamian CIBC FirstCaribbean banker made a round-trip to New York to pick up a $250,000 cheque from disgraced soccer official, Chuck Blazer.

The monies, allegedly part of a $10 million ‘bribe’ to influence voting on which nation would host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, were brought back to Nassau to be deposited in Blazer’s secret CIBC FirstCaribbean account.

“We have initiated our own review in light of this matter, and will continue to take all appropriate steps towards ensuring that our bank is never used for illicit purposes,” the CIBC FirstCaribbean spokesperson told Tribune Business via e-mail.

“Our policy is to co-operate with all law enforcement agencies.”

Tribune Business’s article last week on the activities of the CIBC FirstCaribbean banker, and the $250,000 cheque’s deposit, appear to have triggered significant upheaval at the BISX-listed institution’s Shirley Street head office.

Several well-placed sources told this newspaper that the banker who collected Blazer’s ‘bribe’ cheque was escorted off CIBC FirstCaribbean’s premises last week, and subsequently terminated as a result of Tribune Business’s article.

This newspaper knows who the banker is, but has been advised by attorneys not to name them for legal reasons.

CIBC FirstCaribbean’s spokesperson declined to confirm the banker’s identity, and denied that any of its staff had been removed from their offices.

“Neither our head of corporate security nor the police have escorted anyone from our premises,” they told Tribune Business.

Senior CIBC FirstCaribbean (Bahamas) management, including managing director, Marie Rodland-Allen, are understood to be tight-lipped over the matter.

However, the timing of last week’s events, and the order in which they took place, suggests that CIBC FirstCaribbean was unaware that one of its executives had made the New York trip – or that Blazer was the beneficial owner of one of its Bahamian accounts – until this newspaper revealed the contents of the US government’s indictment against the high-ranking official.

By travelling to New York, the banker’s actions may well have placed them within the US justice system’s reach, exposing them to potential prosecution and actions by the federal authorities.

And they may also have exposed CIBC FirstCaribbean, as well as themselves, to allegations that they were facilitating tax evasion and money laundering by Blazer, the former general-secretary of soccer’s governing body for North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

The situation also raises questions about the strength of CIBC FirstCaribbean’s Know Your Customer (KYC) and due diligence processes. These are likely to be two of the areas subject to its internal “review”.

Bahamian financial institutions have largely been shedding US clients in recent years, due to the ‘high risk’ they represent from a compliance and cost perspective, while the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has forced all institutions to identify their American beneficial owners.

The Bahamian banker is likely to have made the trip at Blazer’s behest because the disgraced US soccer official did not want to put the $250,000 cheque through the US financial system before wiring it to the Bahamas account.

Doing so would likely have brought the transaction to the attention of the US tax authorities, and threatened to expose the CIBC FirstCaribbean Bahamas’ account’s existence.

This ultimately failed to save Blazer, as this same Bahamas bank account that has resulted in him being charged with “wilful failure” to report his beneficial ownership of a foreign bank account. He had failed to inform the US Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of its existence for income tax purposes.

Court documents reveal that the banker flew back to the Bahamas on May 3, 2011, and deposited the $250,000 into Blazer’s CIBC FirstCaribbean bank account in Nassau.

The $250,000 cheque payment to Blazer, who has pleaded guilty to the allegations against him, stemmed from the campaign to host FIFA’s 2010 soccer World Cup.

The US Justice Department’s lawsuit against him alleges that there was much competition for the votes of Blazer and his fellow FIFA executive committee members, who would ultimately select the host nation.

Morocco allegedly offered to pay a $1 million bribe to one of Blazer’s colleagues, before representatives from FIFA, the South African government and its bid committee told the same person they were prepared to offer him $10 million - dressed up as a payment to a soccer organisation “to support the African diaspora”.

Blazer was due a $1 million cut from the $10 million, ultimately receiving $750,000 via three payments.

The third and final one was connected to the Bahamas, with the $250,000 drawn on a bank account held by the Caribbean Football Union (which represents the Bahamas). The cheque was delivered from Trinidad to Blazer at CONCACAF’s New York offices.

“A representative of FirstCaribbean International Bank in the Bahamas, where Blazer held another account, subsequently travelled by plane to New York, landing at JFK Airport,” the US Justice Department said.

“After arriving the bank representative travelled to New York, where he took custody of the cheque. He subsequently travelled to the Bahamas and, on or about May 3, 201, deposited the cheque into Blazer’s account.”