Blatter offers support to Warner as pressure mounts

By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

June 8 – Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA, has again publicly praised Jack Warner as pressure mounts on him in Trinidad and Tobago to step down from his roles in football to concentrate on his new position in there Government there.

Warner, the newly-appointed Minister of Works and Transport in the coalition Government, has vowed to maintain his positions as vice-president of FIFA and as President of CONCACAF despite the opposition asking for an official investigation to be launched into what they claim is a conflict of interests.

Keith Rowley, the leader of the People’s National Movement, has now officially asked Trinidad and Tobago’s Integrity Commission to determine whether Warner is in breach of the Code of Ethics for Parliamentarians by holding the Government post while maintaining his FIFA role.

He has also asked the Commission to ask Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to indicate whether Warner will remain President of CONCACAF and special adviser to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation because both bodies regularly lobby Government “for allocations of not insignificant sums for the necessary promotion of football”.

Rowley wrote to the Commission: ”As a Parliamentarian since 1987, I have always understood there to be a convention of Parliament that Cabinet Ministers must arrange their private interests, whether pecuniary or otherwise, in such a manner as to maintain public confidence and trust.

“Persons in public office should act with the highest ethical standards so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of Government are conserved and enhanced.

“Political prudence demands that Cabinet Ministers must lead by example and ensure that they perform their duties and arrange their private affairs in a way that will bear the closest public scrutiny, an obligation that is not fully discharged by simply acting within the letter of the law.”

But Blatter has claimed that Warner can successfully combine the two roles.

He said: ”On the occasion of your political victory, I would like to kindly extend my deepest congratulations as well as my best wishes of success.

“Your election victory is a vibrant testimony to your brilliant political career and represents the desire to assist the people of your beautiful country to strengthen the cultural and educational values within the society of TT further.

“I am certain that you will take this responsibility and that you will rise to the challenge to continue building a better future for TT. It gives me great pleasure to wish you all success for the challenges ahead.

“I know that you have been appointed Minister of Works and Transport.

“My friend Jack, you will continue to break any imaginable barrier this life has to offer.”

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