4th June, 2015
Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, a central figure in world football’s deepening scandal, has vowed to tell investigators all he knows about corruption within the sport’s governing body.
In a paid political address entitled “The gloves are off” broadcast in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday (AEST), Warner said he feared for his life, but would reveal everything he knew.
He said he had instructed his lawyers to contact law enforcement officials both in his homeland and overseas.
“There can be no reversal of the course of action I’ve now embarked upon,” said Warner, a prominent local politician and businessman.
He said some of the documents he had related to financial dealings with FIFA, some of which are being investigated by US authorities. But he also said he had documents linking FIFA with the 2010 Trinidad and Tobago government elections.
“I have kept quiet, fearing this day might come. I will do so no more,” he said.
“I will no longer keep secrets for them who actively seek to destroy the country.”
Warner is among more than a dozen officials charged by the US Department of Justice with running a criminal enterprise that involved more than US$150 million in bribes.
Prosecutors say Warner solicited bribes worth millions and charged him with offences including racketeering and bribery.
He is also alleged to have misappropriated a $500,000 donation by Football Federation Australia (FFA) to the North and Central American confederation (CONCACAF) as part of Australia’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
FFA Chairman Frank Lowy issued an open letter on Wednesday in which he said Australia had asked for its money back after a CONCACAF probe found it had been embezzled by Warner.
Warner’s address came hours after American Chuck Blazer, another former FIFA executive committee member, admitted taking bribes relating to a range of tournaments, including the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.