Lisle Austin acting president of CONCACAF has been temporarily suspended from office by the soccer body’s executive committee for 'possible violations' of its statutes, Reuters reported.

“The decision was made by the majority of the executive committee, stated a letter from CONCACAF's U.S. lawyer John Collins sent to Austin. Honduran Alfredo Hawit is now in temporary charge of the body, world soccer's governing body FIFA said.

However, Austin said only he -- as president – has a right to call an executive committee meeting and therefore the decision to suspend him had no validity.

Barbadian Austin was placed in charge only last week after CONCACAF President Jack Warner was suspended by FIFA pending an investigation into bribery allegations.

CONCACAF is the association of soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

The dispute inside the CONCACAF appears to have taken on a regional dimension.

Hawit said in a statement, We are clearly passing through a difficult time. However, I consistently believe that CONCACAF will overcome these challenges and will reach at greater heights.

Austin said he had been denied the opportunity of a hearing and had not even heard the charges being levelled against him.

BODY DIVIDED

The announcement came a day before the 20th anniversary edition of CONCACAF's premier event.

Hawit said, ...we are confident this year's edition will be our best ever. I trust it will help bring everyone's attention back to where it belongs -- the field.

The two CONCACAF bodies are operating independently against each other.

The majority of the federations in the body came from the Caribbean and CONCACAF has been controlled by Trinidadian Warner for over 20 years.

BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS

Barbadian Austin was placed in charge only on Sunday after Warner was suspended by FIFA.

The allegations on Warner stated that money was distributed at a meeting to the representatives of Caribbean federation.

Qatari Bin Hammam was suspended and withdrew from the presidential election although he denied any wrongdoing.

Warner, protesting his innocence, said allegations against him are an attack on the entire Caribbean.

Warner has promised to make public on Sunday an email he sent to Blatter immediately after the meeting with Bin Hammam.

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