Fmr FIFA VP addresses corruption in sport’s gov. body

World Today

The FIFA logo is pictured prior to a press conference at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, Tuesday, June 2, 2015. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)

Former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner, a central figure in world soccer’s deepening scandal, has vowed to tell investigators all he knows about corruption within the sport’s governing body.

In a paid political address entitled “The gloves are off” that was broadcast in Trinidad and Tobago late on June 3, Warner said he feared for his life, but would reveal everything he knows. He said he had instructed his lawyers to contact law enforcement officials both in his homeland and overseas. He said some of the documents he had related to financial dealings with FIFA, some of which are being investigated by U.S. authorities. But he also said he had documents linking FIFA with the 2010 Trinidad and Tobago government elections.

Later in the evening Warner, a prominent local politician and businessman, addressed supporters of his Independent Liberal Party’s rally (ILP).

“I also will give them my knowledge of financial transactions at FIFA, including but not limited to Sepp Blatter. I have been there for 30 consecutive years. I was a heartbeat away from Blatter,” said Warner, who equated money received from disgraced former FIFA presidential candidate Mohammed bin Hammam to clinics by English footballer David Beckham during a World Cup bid.

“Whatever he did or didn’t do was not inconsistent with FIFA’s practice for over 100 years,” he explained. “What difference does it make between bin Hammam and Beckham coaching clinics at the Centre of Excellence?”

The Trinidadian also said that he wrote embattled FIFA President Sepp Blatter a letter after hearing of his decision to resign.

“I said to him, ‘Sepp Blatter I sympathize with you because I was in 2011 where you are today. The only difference is that you caused my demise, I didn’t cause yours.”

Warner is among more than a dozen officials charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with running a criminal enterprise that involved more than $150 million in bribes. Prosecutors say Warner solicited bribes worth millions and charged him with offenses including racketeering and bribery.

His address on Wednesday came hours after American Chuck Blazer, another former FIFA executive committee member, admitted taking bribes relating to a range of tournaments, including the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.

Article by Reuters


More FIFA officials admitted received substantial sum

Irish football officials admitted they received a substantial sum, reportedly more than five million dollars, in what amounts to hush money back in 2009 from the international football governing body FIFA. CCTV’s Roee Ruttenberg filed this report from Washington.

Highlights:

Jack Warner, a former FIFA official in the Americas, now wanted by Interpol.
South African sports officials acknowledged having given 10 million dollars to Warner.
Unsealed testimony from another former FIFA official, Chuck Blazer, suggested bribes played a part in the selection of South Africa as World Cup host in 2010.