By Mark Baber
June 11 – Whilst former FIFA executive Jack Warner on Tuesday used his own newspaper to blast the US investigation against him, it has become clear that the news agenda on the FIFA corruption crisis is being driven by selective leaking from inside the US Department of Justice.
Jack Warner, subject of an extradition request from the US, used an editorial in the weekly Sunshine newspaper which he owns to claim that US authorities would be unable to give him a fair trial.
According to Warner the United States is not the “appropriate jurisdiction” to handle the matter “fairly” and the US is being driven by revenge for its failure to win the hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup.
While it is hard to argue against the evidence stacking up against Warner, his recent comments perhaps point towards a request for a plea bargain as his only way to, at least partially, save himself – especially if the US objective of its investigation is in fact to catch a bigger fish other than tax evasion and “racketeering” in its own legal jurisdiction.
Warner has a point. “One must be extremely careful to question whether the United States can be fair in taking action against officials of an international body whom it feels has done it wrong,” Warner wrote.
Highlighting that as part of their lobbying effort to win the 2022 hosting rights, Warner pointed to President Barack Obama’s hosting of himself and Sepp Blatter in the White House asking: “Was the president of the United States seeking a strong lobby from a FIFA vice president or was he ‘bribing’ a FIFA official with a visit and a meal to the White House? I think not. In each case, the answer is no, but it just goes to show how selective this ‘bribe’ issue can be.”
Whilst selective prosecution is certainly a major feature of the US justice system, and whatever Warner’s personal culpability in the corruption affair, it is increasingly clear that leaks of information which can only have originated within the US Department of Justice investigation are driving the media agenda and focusing attention on certain individuals and countries, amongst whom Warner is certainly one.
If we look at the attention being given to the $10 million payment from South Africa to the Caribbean and its use by Warner it is difficult to see where the “papers seen by the BBC” which detail “three wire transfers by FIFA,” could have come from other than from within the US investigation team. The papers shown on the BBC, which include details of payments in and out of various accounts, are clearly not original bank statements.
The BBC report itself focuses on the “the three transactions – on 4 January, 1 February and 10 March 2008 – funds totalling $10m (£6.5m) from FIFA accounts were received into CONCACAF accounts controlled by Jack Warner,” and on payments made to JTA Supermarkets and “to pay off credit cards and personal loans.”
If we take the subsequent BBC exclusive report on Warner allegedly diverting funds intended for Haiti earthquake victims the BBC makes clear that “US justice department papers seen by BBC allege that US$750,000 for victims of 2010 quake went to bank account controlled by former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner.”
The BBC reports US investigators alleging the money went to “accounts controlled by Warner,” at “Warner’s direction” for his “personal use.” Yet the a screenshot of the papers on which the BBC report is based suggests the account at issue is the account of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation, which indicates the issue may be less cut and dried than the commentary suggests.
It is worth mentioning, as an aside, that the notion of US investigators looking into what happened to Haiti aid money is somewhat disingenous in the light of the US having promised $10 billion in aid and the construction of 15,000 new homes subsequent to the earthquake, whilst that money appears to have gone up in smoke and only 900, often substandard houses have been built, 750 of them far from the earthquake zone.
In addition to the leaks to the BBC, an article was published on Tuesday in the Trinidad Express relating to an alleged “$1.2m bribe for Jack” from former FIFA presidential candidate and Qatari billionaire Mohamed bin Hammam, allegedly for arranging the infamous May 2011 cash-for-votes meeting at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad) hotel in Port of Spain.
The Trinidad Express story is also based on “documents seen by the Express.” The paper extensively quotes from “a US Department of Justice (DOJ) document” in outlining extensive details of the alleged bribery scheme and how the money was transferred.
Whilst no one would disagree with the notion of rooting out corruption from world football, the extensive leaks from within the US DOJ again raise serious questions about the nature of the US investigation.
It is clear that, long before Warner faces any form of trial, he has been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion by a torrent of improper and prejudicial leaks from prosecutorial sources.
But why this sustained campaign at this point in time? It is difficult to seriously argue that the US authorities main concern is over the alleged corruption of Jack Warner, with many of the accusations going back many years, and the leaks do lend credence to the Russian and Chinese argument that the prosecution and media campaign are part of a geopolitical agenda, whether that is aimed at Russia in particular or the extension of US jurisdiction across the globe in general.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734847168labto1734847168ofdlr1734847168owedi1734847168sni@r1734847168ebab.1734847168kram1734847168