FIFA Scandal: Jack Warner fears for his life and will reveal ‘avalanche’ of secrets
“Former Fifa vice president makes dramatic TV appearance in which he claims he will prove a link between soccer’s governing body and Trinidad and Tobago elections”
The former Fifa vice president Jack Warner has made an extraordinary television appearance in which he says he fears for his life and claims he will prove a link between soccer’s governing body and the national elections in his native Trinidad and Tobago, theguardian has reported.
The claims come while Fifa struggles to cope with the ongoing fallout following corruption charges that were issued by US authorities against Warner and 13 other key football figures.
Warner is the subject of an Interpol red notice and was arrested and held in jail overnight in Trinidad last Wednesday, but was later released on bail. He initially denied any wrongdoing, and said at the time he was “afforded no due process”.
Following his arrest, in a televised broadcast in Trinidad on Thursday, Warner claimed he had documentation that could prove a link between key Fifa officials and the 2010 Trinidad election. “I will no longer keep secrets for them,” he said.
Warner makes allegations that the documents “also deal with my knowledge of transactions at Fifa, including – but not limited to – its president, Mr Sepp Blatter”. Blatter has not yet responded to Warner’s allegations Warner also apologised for not disclosing his knowledge of the alleged links previously.
“Not even death will stop the avalanche that is coming” he said. “The die is cast. There can be no turning back. Let the chips fall where they fall.”
Warner is yet to produce any documentation to support his allegations. He also said in the televised address, which was a paid political advertisement, that “I reasonably actually fear for my life.”
The stunning revelations out of Marabella, Trinidad come just hours after a transcript was made public of former FIFA executive Chuck Blazer’s admission that he and other members of the all-powerful executive committee were bribed in return for voting for South Africa’s bid for the 2010 World Cup.
Chuck Blazer, a 70-year-old soccer chief, first made the admission in testimony to a New York judge in 2013, the details of which had not been publicly available until now, following a petition from three New York-based reporters.
It revealed how the judge in the case, Raymond Dearie, referred to Fifa as a “racketeering influenced corrupt organisation”, the same terminology used in cases of organised crime, and only allowed the hearing to proceed after the Brooklyn courtroom had been locked.
Entering his plea, Blazer then detailed the long list of events and marketing contracts on which he and others took kickbacks.
“Beginning in or about 1993 and continuing through the early 2000s, I and others agreed to accept bribes and kickbacks in conjunction with the broadcast and other rights to the 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2003 Gold Cups,” he told the judge.
The Department of Justice said last week that Blazer faces a maximum 20 years’ incarceration in a US prison for the conspiracies, 10 for the failure to declare his foreign bank accounts, and five years for the tax evasion charges.
It said Blazer had pleaded guilty to receiving $750,000 from Jack Warner, part of Blazer’s agreed $1m share of the $10m paid to Concacaf by Fifa, after Warner agreed to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.
The latest claims from Warner come shortly after the resignation of the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, just days after he re-elected for a fifth term to lead the world body.
