Warner says he’s not going anywhere and will drop BOMBSHELL today / What Jack warner said to Fifa

Bombshell e-mails involving re-elected Federation International Football Association (FIFA) president Sepp Blatter is expected to send shock waves through the football fraternity today as the Association’s suspended vice president, Jack Warner speaks out. Vowing that he will be exonerated from the football scandal following the revelation of a series of e-mails, the Chaguanas West MP has promised that it will send shockwaves throughout the world. Viewers are expected to be glued to their seats from 1 pm today as they listen to live radio broadcasts of Warner’s rally on six radio stations locally. Television stations are also expected to carry the rally where Warner defends himself in the raging controversy. He has chosen his constituency, among his supporters—at Jubilee Recreation Ground at Cacandee Road, Felicity—to speak out. He is expected to spend the day in his constituency where he will take part in a motorcade in celebration of Indian Arrival Day.

He will then address supporters on Indian Arrival Day and on his suspension from FIFA. In a shocking move last Sunday, the world’s football governing body suspended Warner and Qatar’s Mohammed Bin Hammam amidst bribery allegations. Warner has since deemed the suspensions as illegal and unjust, promising to clear his name. The Works and Transport Minister was at his constituency office yesterday where he listened to the cries of more than 300 people seeking assistance on various matters yesterday.

Speaking to the Sunday Guardian, Warner admitted he was moved by the throngs of people at the Piarco International Airport on Thursday on his return from Zurich. Warner said he was committed to serving the people of T&T. “I remain eternally grateful to my supporters. It is good to have friends not only when you are up but also when you are down.” The Minister however, maintained that calls by the People’s National Movement and the Congress of The People (COP) candidate for him to step aside until being cleared of the allegations are unfounded. Warner said: “Ramadhar wants him to go, while Ramadhar’s Prime Minister supports the Chaguanas West MP.” He said Ramadhar used the opportunity to gain political mileage in the upcoming COP internal elections that may end up working against him in the long run.

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“I maintain I did no wrong!” That was the declaration of Works and Transport Minister Austin ‘Jack’ Warner last night as he made it clear he had no intention of heeding calls to resign amid an investigation into bribery claims by world football governing body, FIFA.

Speaking at a press conference after arriving from Zurich, Switzerland where he attended a FIFA Ethics Committee hearing that led to his suspension as a Vice President in the association and as head of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) pending the probe, Warner said he was thankful for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s support.

However, he said he was disappointed in others from the Congress of the People (COP) –one of the five parties in the People’s Partnership coalition government – who urged him to step down.

“I understand my critics. I would have preferred that their criticism was not motivated by blood lust or malice. They are smelling blood and I say I understand this but I do not accept this,” he said.

He made direct reference to the call by Legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar, who is among the COP candidates vying for leadership of the party.

“As a lawyer he should know better and he and I were good friends until now,” Warner said. “How can you be a political leader? This for me is nonsense…I’m totally disappointed in Prakash Ramadhar.”

Members of the COP are among several people who think Warner should step aside in the interest of transparency.

He was suspended pending a full investigation into allegations that he and another FIFA executive member and president of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohamed Bin Hammam, offered bribes at a meeting of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) in Trinidad last month.

It is alleged that payments of up to US$40,000 were made to secure votes for Bin Hammam in his campaign to challenge Sepp Blatter for the presidency in Wednesday’s elections. Bin Hammam subsequently withdrew his candidacy and Blatter was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term after going to the polls unopposed.

Two CFU officials, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, were also suspended in connection with the alleged bribery.

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Shortly after he learnt that he had been suspended by the Fifa ethics committee for allegedly facilitating the payment of US$40,000 to regional football officials, Jack Warner, who is himself on the Fifa executive committee, issued a statement in which he unleashed some accusations of his own. On Friday, speaking to journalists during the Parliament’s teabreak the CONCACAF president and special adviser to the T&T Football Federation had threatened a “football tsunami.”

I attended the Fifa inquiry (yesterday) at 12 noon pursuant to a request made of me by Fifa to answer allegation made by Chuck Blazer, general secretary of CONCACAF. I have learned this evening via the media that I have been provisionally suspended by the Fifa Ethics Committee. This has come both as a shock and surprise to me. At the conclusion of the inquiry, I specifically requested that I be notified of any decision as I had learned via the media before attending the hearing that a decision would be handed down at 5 pm. Despite leaving my contact details, up to this point, I still have not received any notification from the Fifa.

At the hearing, I indicated that I submitted two written statements outlining my position. I expressed my disappointment with the way in which the inquiry was conducted as I was given less than 24 hours to submit a statement for consideration by the committee and, moreover, one of the five members of the committee is from Uruguay and did not have the value of a translated version of my or Mr bin Hammam’s submission. This lack of translation services brings into question the issue of due process. In addition, Fifa did not have the courtesy to provide me with copies of the allegations before the hearing and it was only during the hearing were the allegations read to me.

At the hearing, among other things, I was asked about the special meeting with the CFU to hear Mr bin Hammam and whether such a meeting was normal. I indicated that President Blatter earlier this year had held a similar meeting in South Africa with 37 countries and no objections had been made of that to date. In fact, this has been the practice of Fifa in holding meetings with member countries before elections. I denied the allegations that I made statements at the CFU meeting about gifts being given by Mr bin Hammam. I also indicated that at the Miami CONCACAF congress on May 3, Mr Blatter made a gift of US$1 million to CONCACAF to spend as it deems fit.

This annoyed president Michel Platini who was present and he approached secretary general Jerome Valcke complaining that Mr Blatter had no permission from the Finance Committee to make this gift to which Jerome replied that he will find the money for Mr Blatter. I also indicated at the CFU meeting held in Trinidad on May 10 which was requested by Mr bin Hammam, Fifa through Mr Blatter organised gifts of laptops and projectors to all members of the Caribbean and no objections have been made today of this to date. In my statement, I attached letters from 13 federations whose members attended the CFU meeting where the allegations of gifts were made.

These statements from the 13 members denied the allegations that have been made against me and any participation of these individuals in the act complained of. While with regard to the allegation of payment only one statement was submitted by Collins & Collins. On May 18, when I realised that the political battle between Blatter and bin Hammam was getting out of hand, I wrote secretary general Valcke, telling him, among other things, that the outcome of the elections may cause some fracture in the Arab world which we can ill-afford now and that I will like to ask bin Hammam to withdraw from the race. To which Jerome replied to me and I quote:

“For MBH, I never understood why he was running. If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB. Or he thought you can buy Fifa as they bought the WC. I have a bet since day one, he will withdraw but on June 1 after his ten-minute speech. By doing so he can say he push Blatter to make new commitments, bla, bla bla, and get out under applause. Before means he is a looser. So...He will get some votes. Less than 60 today after CAF support. It will be the “coup de grace” if you would officially send a message as the CONCACAF president by saying CONCACAF supports unanimously. So I am not giving you an advice but just my feeling about what I think is the situation.”

 Despite the plea from SG Valcke, I refused to give any advice about how CONCACAF will be voting.
At no time during this matter was I ever contacted by Mr Blazer nor did he contact the executive or the Emergency Committee of the CONCACAF and it is informative for one to look at Mr Blazer’s credibility by referring to the report of the NY District Court judge in the matter between Master Card and Visa in the Fifa matter of December 7, 2006. (Para 213) Mr Blazer’s testimony was generally without credibility based on his attitude and demeanor on his evasive answers on cross-examination. (Para 214) Thus, for that reason and based on his evasive answers and his attitude and demeanour, Mr Blazer’s testimony as the March 14, 2006, Marketing & TV AG Board meeting is rejected as fabricated. The complaints made in this matter are politically motivated against Mr bin Hammam and me and are designed, among other things, to cause serious prejudice and damage to both Mr bin Hammam and myself at one of the most critical times for the Fifa.

It is also shocking that at the close of an inquiry at around 5.47 pm when the decision was already delivered, new evidence in the form of a fax from the Puerto Rico FF appears making allegations which were treated as part of the evidence in this matter. This further demonstrates in the way the inquiry was conducted and the prejudice against me. The decision to suspend me is an abuse of the process and achieves no real purpose as stated in the decision and again demonstrates the bias of this inquiry.
I intend to say a lot more on this matter shortly. In the meantime, I will vigorously defend my reputation as well as the reputation of the rest of the Caribbean members.
 
Respectfully submitted
Sgd Jack Warner

Timeline: FIFA corruption scandal in the last year

FIFA vice president, Trinidad’s Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner was yesterday provisionally suspended by the world football body, while president Sepp Blatter was cleared of any wrongdoing during his re-election campaign. Blatter’s rival Mohamed bin Hammam, who withdrew from the race hours beforehand, was also provisionally suspended. Here is a timeline of the recent corruption allegations to hit Fifa as provided by the Reuters news agency:

October 2010
• Britain's Sunday Times newspaper claims two members of Fifa's executive committee, Reynald Temarii of Tahiti and Amos Adamu of Nigeria, offered to sell their votes in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting contest to undercover newspaper reporters.

• Temarii and Adamu provisionally suspended by Fifa's ethics committee, pending further investigations. Four other officials, all former executive committee members, are also provisionally suspended.
November 2010

• Temarii is banned for one year and fined 5,000 Swiss francs ($5,887) for breaches of the ethics code. Adamu banned for three years and fined 10,000 Swiss francs for breaching five articles of the ethics code, including one on bribery. The four others all banned and fined.

• The ethics committee decides allegations of vote-trading between Spain/Portugal, who are bidding for 2018, and Qatar, who are bidding for 2022, are unfounded.

• Fifa dismisses allegations made by a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) program against three more executive committee members, saying the matters had already been investigated by Swiss authorities and the case was closed.

December 2010
• Russia is awarded the 2018 World Cup while the 2022 tournament is controversially awarded to Qatar despite Fifa's own technical report saying that high temperatures could pose a health risk to players, officials and spectators. Temarii and Adamu are not replaced and the decision was made by only 22 members of the executive committee.

May 2011
• A British parliamentary inquiry into why England failed to secure the 2018 finals told by MP Damian Collins that there was evidence from the Sunday Times newspaper that Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast were paid by Qatar. At the same hearing, former English Football Association chairman David Triesman accuses Fifa executive committee members Jack Warner, Ricardo Teixeira, Nicolas Leoz and Worawi Makudi of asking for favours in return for their votes. Triesman alleges that Warner had requested assistance with building a football training facility in Trinidad worth US$2.5m. FIFA said yesterday that all four men have been cleared of the allegations in an independent report commissioned by the FA.

• An ethics investigation is opened into Mohamed bin Hammam, Blatter's only challenger in the Fifa presidential election on June 1, and Jack Warner. The investigation concerns a meeting of the Caribbean Football Union earlier in the month.

• Blatter is also summoned to appear before the ethics committee hearing following a request from Bin Hammam because he may have been aware of the cash payments.

• Bin Hammam withdraws his candidacy hours before the ethics committee hearing.

• An ethics committee hearing clears Blatter but provisionally suspends Bin Hammam and Warner pending a further inquiry into allegations they paid Caribbean delegates $40,000 each to vote for Bin Hammam in the election.

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FIFA suspended Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner on Sunday amid allegations the two executive committee members bribed voters in the presidential election campaign. The ethics committee also cleared FIFA president Sepp Blatter of ignoring the alleged bribes.

The decisions pave the way for Blatter to be re-elected unopposed to a fourth term Wednesday.

Soccer's governing body said bin Hammam, a Qatari who leads Asia's soccer confederation, and Warner, a FIFA vice president from Trinidad, will now face a full FIFA inquiry. If found guilty, they could be expelled from FIFA and banned from all soccer activity.

Bin Hammam announced his withdrawal as a candidate earlier Sunday.

The ethics commission said there was sufficient evidence to further investigate allegations that bin Hammam and Warner offered $40,000 bribes to delegates at a Caribbean soccer association meeting May 10-11 in Trinidad.

The payments were allegedly made to secure votes for bin Hammam in his campaign to unseat Blatter as the head of FIFA. The evidence was submitted to the governing body by American executive committee member Chuck Blazer.

"We are satisfied that there is a case to be answered," Petrus Damaseb, deputy chairman of the ethics committee, said at a news conference.

Bin Hammam, who denied any wrongdoing, had asked the ethics panel to investigate Blatter on grounds that he knew of alleged bribe attempts and did nothing about it. But the FIFA panel said there was no evidence to take action.