THE Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) yesterday announced that in accordance with the confederation's statutes, the executive committee provisionally dismissed Jeffrey Webb and Eduardo Li and - also in accordance with its statutes - named senior vice-president Alfredo Hawit as CONCACAF president.

The executive committee appointed Victor Montagliani, the president of the Canadian Soccer Association; Justino Compean, the president of the Mexican Soccer Federation; and Sunil Gulati, the president of the US Soccer Federation to a special committee charged with the duties of evaluating and sustaining all of the business operations of the confederation in the wake of the indictments brought against certain members of FIFA and CONCACAF.

The executive committee also placed general secretary Enrique Sanz on a leave of absence to begin immediately.

In addition, the confederation's deputy general secretary, Ted Howard, has been appointed by the executive committee as acting general secretary. Howard takes over the administrative functions of the day-to-day business of the confederation in the absence of Enrique Sanz.

"While we are profoundly disappointed by the allegations made by authorities that again, CONCACAF has been the victim of fraud, we remain committed to CONCACAF's goal to develop, promote, and manage the game of soccer," said CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit.

"We have now taken the appropriate steps to maintain our operations and continue to deliver on our commitments to all of our constituents, including our fans, members, as well as commercial and broadcast partners. We also continue to cooperate with the ongoing investigation by governmental authorities, which has not placed any restrictions on our ongoing activities."