A former member of FIFA’s financial watchdog has been sentenced to seven years in prison in the Cayman Islands after being found guilty of fraud, his lawyer said.

Canover Watson, who was a member of FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee, was found guilty of five charges related to his time in charge of the Caribbean nation’s Health Service Authority (HSA), according to the Cayman Island’s Anti-Corruption Commission, which had led the investigation.

While the charges were not football-related, the verdict against a man who served on a body which monitored FIFA’s finances is another blow to the image of the organisation facing an unprecedented corruption crisis.

Watson was suspended from the FIFA watchdog in September 2014 pending the outcome of the case. He had also been treasurer of the Cayman Islands FA and was a vice-president of the Caribbean Football Union.

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