Sports Briefs
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JACK Warner, former FIFA vice president, said he feared for his life and could provide a link between the world football’s governing body and an election in Trinidad and Tobago.
Warner, one of 14 people wanted by United States authorities as part of the corruption scandal rocking FIFA, said he had an “avalanche” of secrets that including those on Sepp Blatter, outgoing FIFA president.
“I will no longer keep secrets for them,” he said in a paid political broadcast shown on Wednesday, June 3, in Trinidad and Tobago.
“I reasonably and surely fear for my life,” he declared, adding: “not even death will stop the avalanche that is coming.”
Now facing extradition to the US over the charges, Warner, a former minister of national security, is a key figure in the scandal that led to Blatter’s sudden resignation on Tuesday, June 2.
He said he had compiled a file of documents that would show “a link between FIFA, its funding and me, the link between FIFA its funding and the United National Congress, UNC, and the People’s Partnership government in (Trinidad and Tobago’s) general election 2010.”
Warner also said his file “deals with my knowledge of international transactions at FIFA, including its president Mr Sepp Blatter and, lastly, other matters involving (Trinidad and Tobago’s) current prime minister.”
Warner was a vice president of FIFA and head of the CONCACAF confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean. Amid multiple corruption allegations, Warner, 72, resigned from all football activity in 2011 and later stepped down as Trinidad and Tobago’s security minister in the midst of a fraud inquiry.
In the internal election of January 2010, Warner endorsed Kamla Persad-Bissessar as the UNC leader. She went on to be elected the country’s first woman prime minister, but Warner later broke with her government and party.
Warner said that Blatter was directly “implicated” in his suspension.
The Trinidad official, free on bond after his arrest last week, said he would fight extradition to the US. “I have no intention of allowing them to deprive me of my freedom,” he said.
— Jun 15, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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Tags: Caribbean Central America CONCACAF FIFA president Jack Warner Kamla Persad-Bissessar People’s Partnership Sepp Blatter Trinidad and Tobago UNC United National Congress United States
