By Andrew Warshaw
October 15 – Video transcripts of disgraced ex-FIFA vice-president Jack Warner suggesting his Caribbean colleagues were free to accept gifts from former FIFA Presidential hopeful Mohamed Bin Hammam have been handed over to the Attorney General in Warner’s native Trinidad, according to reports.
Warner is still a Government Minister in his homeland despite having resigned from all football activities over the infamous cash-for-votes scandal.
The video in question was seen by FIFA’s Ethics Committee as part of the evidence that led to them sanctioning a string of Caribbean members yesterday for violating FIFA’s Code of Ethics.
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was reported as saying: “I have referred the matter to the Attorney General to advise whether there is anything to be concerned about.”
When asked if Warner still has her full support, the Prime Minister added: “I am awaiting the comments from the Attorney General”.
The recording was made on May 11, the day after Bn Hammam is alleged to have offered $40,000 in individual brown envelopes to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) members.
He later withdrew his candidacy before being barred for life, subject to an ongong appeal.
On the tape, Warner begins the meeting by asking: “Is there media here?”
On being told there were no journalists present, he explains the background behind Bin Hammam’s “gifts” and apparently insisted they should not be seen by the outside world to have come from the Qatari.
The most high profile figure to be sanctioned by FIFA yesterday was Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) boss Horace Burrell, a long-time ally of Warner and acting President of the CFU, who must now withdraw his candidacy from next month’s election.
Burrell, after being charged originally, had insisted: “Let me state categorically that the JFF was not offered, neither received any funds prior to, during or after the reference CFU meeting held May 10-11 in Trinidad.”
He is no stranger to controversy, having allegedly substituted his girlfriend for the absent Haiti delegate during a crucial vote at the 1996 FIFA Congress in Zurich.
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