Thursday, 4 June 2015

FIFA Crises: Jack Warner Former FIFA Vice President Set to Reveal All

Former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner one of the 14 people charged by the US over alleged corruption at Fifa has said in a TV address that he will reveal all he knows about corruption at world football's governing body.

Mr Warner, who said he feared for his life, also said he could link Fifa officials to general elections in his native Trinidad and Tobago in 2010.

Another top Fifa official and key witness, American Chuck Blazer, has admitted accepting bribes. The admissions came in a newly released transcript of Mr Blazer's guilty plea from 2013, as part of a wide-ranging US criminal case that has engulfed Fifa and led president Sepp Blatter to resign.


The US justice department alleges the 14 people charged worldwide accepted bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150m (£97m) over a 24-year period. Four others have already been charged, including Mr Blazer.
Mr Warner, 72, resigned from all football activity in 2011 amid bribery allegations and later stepped down as Trinidad and Tobago's security minister amid a fraud inquiry.

A key figure in the deepening scandal, he said he had given lawyers documents outlining the links between Fifa, its funding, himself and the 2010 election in Trinidad and Tobago. He said the transactions also included Mr Blatter.
"I will no longer keep secrets for them who actively seek to destroy the country," he said in an address on Trinidadian TV on Wednesday evening entitled "The gloves are off".

Speaking to his supporters at a rally later the same day, he promised an "avalanche" of revelations to come.

Brief History of Jack Warner

Austin "Jack" Warner born 26 January 1943 is a Trinidad and Tobago politician, businessman, and former football executive. Warner held the offices of Vice president of FIFA and President of CONCACAF until his suspension and eventual resignation from these roles in 2011. He is also the former Minister of National Security of Trinidad and Tobago and was an elected member of that country's parliament from November 2007 to 26 April 2013. A former school teacher (history), he is the owner of Joe Public F.C., a professional football club based in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago.

Warner had been a member of the FIFA Executive Committee since 1983, and CONCACAF President since 1990. He was re-elected for a new term in the spring of 2011. During his tenure, Warner was implicated in numerous corruption allegations some of which date back to the 1980s.On 24 May 2011 FIFA's ethics committee began official proceedings against Warner concerning at least three separate corruption and bribery charges. On 29 May 2011 Warner and Mohammed bin Hammam were provisionally suspended by FIFA's Ethics Committee from all involvement in soccer, pending the outcome of the investigation of corruption allegations against them.

On 20 June 2011, FIFA announced Warner's resignation from all his positions in international football. As Warner is no longer part of FIFA, they have ended the investigation into any and all ethics violations, saying "As a consequence of Mr Warner's self-determined resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained."

On 18 April 2013, The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (“CONCACAF”) published its Integrity Committee report into the affairs of the Warner-led CONCACAF regime. The Committee concluded that Warner committed fraud against CONCACAF and FIFA.

In 2015, Warner and several other FIFA officials were arrested before the annual FIFA Congress in Zurich and charged with "wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering." Warner is facing extradition to the United States for criminal prosecution.

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