Warner: FIFA meddled in national elections
June 4, 2015
Former FIFA executive Jack Warner appeared on Trinidadian television Wednesday night, pledging to prove a connection between world soccer's governing body and his country's 2010 elections.
Warner said among other things in the paid political ad that he feared for his life and had evidence of FIFA meddling in his nation's politics.
"I will no longer keep secrets for them who actively seek to destroy the country," he said.
The embattled former FIFA vice president claimed he has documents and checks that link FIFA executives, including President Sepp Blatter, to the 2010 election in Trinidad and Tobago.
After the speech aired, Warner appeared at rally for his Independent Liberal Party and reiterated his claims, pledging that he will not hold back in his new plan to expose the scandal.
"I apologize for not disclosing my knowledge of these events before," Warner said.
Warner claimed he is in possession of numerous documents linking FIFA to the elections, and will be delivering them to his attorneys.
"Not even death will stop the avalanche that is coming," Warner told cheering supporters at the rally. "The die is cast."
Warner also suggested he had insider knowledge of why Blatter abruptly resigned from the FIFA presidency.
"Blatter knows why he fell. And if anyone else knows, I do," Warner said.
Blazer admits accepting bribes
Warner's threats come shortly after it was revealed that FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer along with others on the governing body's ruling panel took bribes in the votes for the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.
"Beginning in or around 2004 and continuing through 2011, I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup," Blazer told US District Judge Raymond J. Dearie.
The bribe revelations were made public after prosecutors unsealed a transcript of November 25, 2013, court proceedings in which Blazer pleaded guilty to racketeering and other corruption charges.
"I agreed with other persons in or around 1992 to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup," Blazer told Dearie.
According to US officials, Blazer's cooperation helped build a complex corruption case that has led to charges against top FIFA figures and helped prompt the resignation of President Sepp Blatter on Tuesday.
The 1998 World Cup was hosted by France, but a separate court document contains the allegation that bidding nation Morocco paid a bribe to another FIFA executive and that Blazer acted as the intermediary.
In the case of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the indictment said South Africa paid a $10 million (9 million euro) bribe to secure the right to host the tournament. The country has confirmed the payment but said it was a donation to support soccer development in the Caribbean, not a bribe.
Blazer served as a FIFA executive committee member from 1997 to 2013 and as general secretary of CONCACAF, soccer's governing body in North and Central America and the Caribbean, from 1990 to 2011. The 70-year-old also accepted bribes for five editions of CONCACAF's premier tournament, the Gold Cup, between 1996 and 2003.
bw/bk (AP, Reuters)