The Jack Warner Thread.

[Socapro]

Back in the 80's & 90's when he was building his empire can you imagine where our football would be today if those $$ was injected into our youth development programs! Sadist!

I think we could have been regularly up there with Mexico & USA in CONCACAF for World Cup qualifying & could have seen at least a couple more senior World Cups.

[Richard G.]

I do think even Sepp Blatter will be probed too. FIFA watch out.

Lucky Warner.
A very lucky Jack: Part VII of a Special Investigation
By Camini Marajh: Head Investigative Desk

How lucky can a Jack get?

Well, if the Jack in question has the last name Warner, stupendously lucky.

Not only does he get cash gifts of $60 million from party financiers, he gets debt forgiveness on a US$6 million Centre of Excellence (CoE) construction loan; another US$20 million worth of investments in the CoE from the world football governing body, FIFA; maintenance money for his CoE acquisition of US$50,000 a month from Concacaf, the body which represents football federations from North and Central America and the Caribbean of which he was president; and miscellaneous cash gifts from Australia and other countries bidding to secure lucrative and prestigious World Cup hosting gains.

And while United National Congress (UNC) party financier Krishna Lalla contends that the $60 million was a loan to be repaid and the Sir David Simmons-led Concacaf Integrity Committee has made findings of criminal fraud in relation to some of the big ticket CoE items, Warner has remained resolute in his claim that they were cash gifts meant for his personal benefit.

Warner has presented conflicting accounts of the circumstances surrounding these so-called CoE gifts, last Thursday pulling private correspondence he refused to share with the Simmons enquiry out of his political hat at a public meeting with adoring Chaguanas West constituents as proof that former FIFA president Joao Havelange had gifted the CoE to him and the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), of which he was president.

There are several problems with Warner’s various and conflicting accounts.

In the case of the UNC party financier, he initially branded him a liar, telling his then political leader Basdeo Panday that he never received any money from Lalla.

As reported previously in this series, Warner recanted his story when Lalla filed a lawsuit to get back his money. The new version, Warner told Panday, was that the cash gift was $30 million and not $60 million. Lalla had sued for recovery of the cheque payments only, which was about $30 million.

Another major hurdle in the Warner credibility chart is his Havelange story.

The private letters he produced as proof of a gift do not specifically match the interpretation he has placed on it. Further, legal experts counter that even if Havelange did in fact give the CoE at Macoya as a gift to Warner, he did not have the authority to give away a corporate asset.

Legal experts say Havelange cannot give away an asset that is not his to give and the absence of FIFA board minutes and other documents tell its own story about Warner’s claim of the fabulously-expensive real estate gift.

The Simmons Report also detailed a slew of fraudulent Warner dealings in relation to the CoE.

As reported in the April 17 installment of this series, Warner and his accountant-in-chief Kenny Rampersad had listed the CoE, named after Havelange, as a freehold asset on the balance sheet of the region’s ruling football body.

The Express series raised questions about the Rampersad-audited Concacaf financial statements and the apparent material misrepresentation of an asset described as freehold property to which Warner held legal title.

The Rampersad-audited accounts showed the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence as an asset on the books of Concacaf from inception in the late 90s right up to 2010. The Simmons report found that far from being an accounting oversight, it was intent to deceive.
Investigations by this newspaper show, however, that it was a deception known to Zurich.

FIFA insiders say Sepp Blatter, Warner’s former close pal and the man he fraudulently helped elect as FIFA president in a bid-rigging scheme more than a decade ago, knew about the CoE scam.

FIFA board minutes show that Blatter defended Warner’s many financial improprieties and ran interference to requests for censure from some FIFA Executive Committee (ExCo) members.

As reported in the April 17 installment, the CoE was not only listed as an asset on the books of Concacaf, it was billing the Confederation for use of its facilities. It was very clearly stated in black and white that Concacaf derived no income from its freehold property in Trinidad and instead was paying hundreds of thousands of US dollars to Warner for use of the sprawling sporting complex paid for with FIFA money.

The financial statements in which Rampersad played both a bookkeeper and auditor role, showed a one-way money flow to Warner.

And as with almost everything else in the halcyon Warner-Blatter days, no questions were asked and no explanations provided.
Warner described Blatter as a great leader. Blatter called him: “A wonderful and loyal friend”. From all accounts, it was a mutually-rewarding relationship, the two men made very rich deals and, up until early 2011, they had each other’s back.

Blatter gave a US$1 million gift to Concacaf to spend as it chose. Persons familiar with the situation say the money went to Warner. And as Warner himself would admit in the wake of the 2011 tsunami break-up between the former football allies, Blatter provided many gifts over the years, including to “all members” of the Caribbean football bodies.

He said gift giving was a part of FIFA’s culture. It was in the FIFA DNA.

In a startling statement carried in a live international broadcast on Sportsmax and local TV stations, Warner, on Thursday night, admitted his role in a 1998 vote-rigging scheme to ensure Blatter’s victory in FIFA’s presidential race.

In a public admission of fraud, Warner told how Vincy Jalal, the girlfriend of Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaica Football Federation, cast a proxy vote for Haiti and shouted “oui” during the roll-call of delegates.

He said Blatter won the FIFA presidency on the strength of his (Warner’s) vote-scheming.

Persons with knowledge of the situation told a more sinister tale of the then Haiti Football Association president, Dr Jean-Marie Kyss, being detained in Haiti on the instruction of the then Secretary of Sport at a time of political turmoil.

Kyss’ passport was seized but he got out desperate calls to Warner and former general secretary of Concacaf, Chuck Blazer, briefing them on the situation and his inability to make the scheduled Paris Congress.

And while FIFA’s rules do not permit proxy voting, Warner, a former Blatter general, told the huge meeting of party supporters on Thursday that Blatter was one of the “most hated” football officials” at the time and were it not for Concacaf’s support, he would “never have seen the light of day as FIFA president”.

He said: “With Blatter’s permission, I got Captain Burrell’s girlfriend to vote as the Haitian delegate by saying ‘oui!’ when Haiti’s name was called. In 1998 therefore, I had delivered and since then I emerged the second highest sporting personality in FIFA.”

Warner did not say whether his No. 2 standing in the Blatter-run House of FIFA was connected to the 1998 vote-rigging scheme, but he was clear that the two had much in common and a mutual admiration for each other.

His change of loyalty to a wealthy Qatari by the name of Mohamed bin Hammam created a tectonic shift on the FIFA playing field.

New alliances were formed, old friendships came undone and tsunami threats were being unleashed in the full glare of rolling TV cameras. The former football allies had come to the end game, each desperately fighting to score, each waiting to offload their own truck-load of dirty secrets.

—In Wednesday’s Express, some of those secrets are revealed.

[royal]

a former MP hoping to contest a bye-elections soon admitting he rig FIFA votes in '98? ......... dangerous

[Flex]

Anil Roberts calls for ‘study’ of Concacaf report.
T&T Guardian Reports.
 
Sports Minister Anil Roberts is calling for the Law Association of T&T or independent minds to go through the Concacaf report, which accused Jack Warner of committing fraud.

The D’Abadie/O’Meara MP feels that certain things in the report do not sit right and needed opinions of attorneys or independent individuals. Roberts was delivering his contribution on a private motion of the Prime Minister’s failure to deal expeditiously with Warner, on Friday in Parliament.
 
He said the report had nothing to do with the use of T&T’s funds. “I am going to ask the law association and independent people to go through this (report) to see if whether it was fair and constitute findings.

If this report, as stated here, is also unchallenged by the member for Chaguanas West, the former Concacaf president and there are gaps in the information, then we want to know, as it is a public document.”
 
Roberts said none of the 38 witnesses’ testimonies was crossed examined. “We were not even told who the witnesses were. Is that evidence?” Roberts said the report fails to sit with the laws of natural justice and due process.

[Flex]

I never abused my power—Jack.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Jack Warner has resigned from being a Cabinet minister, Member of Parliament and UNC chairman. The following is a continuation of his speech which was delivered during a Straight Talk meeting in Felicity on Thursday night.

This has nothing to do with anything wrong that I have done or failed to do in my country. This is a strategy crafted by some conspiratorial cowards who see Jack Warner as an obstacle to their ambitions, both at home and abroad.
 
The Centre of Excellence issue is just a smoke screen; but if that is where they want to end then that is where I will begin tonight. On April 6, 1990, I was elected president of Concacaf and I assumed office in July some three months later. This is the only time I can recall that Fifa deferred the installation of a president of any confederation for three months.
 
Another time I will tell you the reason why. I became powerful as the Concacaf president because I was able to increase the membership of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), of which I was also president from 1974 to 2011, into a strong fighting unit to the point where the CFU had 28 out of 40 members in the Concacaf. As the president of the CFU with 28 out of 40 members in the Concacaf, I held a position and a level of power, which I never abused.
 
In fact when I became president of Concacaf I was given a table, two chairs and $40,000 to work with from the old administration. When I resigned from Concacaf there was some $37 million in the bank, three offices, and unmeasured goodwill. I recall when I first became Concacaf president for months we could not pay the rent and it was Chuck’s wife who had to pay it for us.
 
I also recall that we could not pay for an audit of the financial records we inherited and it was Kenny Rampersad & Co who did our audit free of charge for years. Kenny, wherever you are, I want to sincerely apologise for whatever pain or embarrassment you and your firm are now experiencing for having associated with Concacaf.
 
During the period 1992 to 2011, no other president of any confederation brought more countries to Fifa than I did because I was of the view that to expand the beautiful game of football there was need for a paradigm change where even small territories such Anguilla and Aruba, BVI and USVI and even the Cayman Islands should be included. I never had an elitist policy.
 
As president, my goal was to include and embrace every island state. It is informative to note that the old Concacaf had refused the Cayman Islands membership three times before I became its president. And when I became president of Concacaf in 1990, two years later I made Cayman Islands a member of Concacaf and of Fifa. And today, that very same president of Cayman Islands is the president of Concacaf, though he may have conveniently forgotten how he came to be there.
 
You would remember that prior to 1996 Caribbean football teams were the butt of international ridicule. No one took us seriously. They laughed at us. They humiliated us on and off the field. Our teams were beaten six-nil, four-nil and 12-nil by Central American and North American countries. And by 1996 I couldn’t take it anymore. I decided that something had to be done to improve the quality of football in the Caribbean.
 
So I went to Dr Joao Havelange, who was the president of Fifa, and I asked him for a $6 million US loan to open a Centre of Excellence in T&T so that I could lift the level of football in the Caribbean and ultimately the Concacaf. I also decided then that I would use my influence to increase the Concacaf allocation of slots for the Fifa World Cup from one half of what it was then to three and one half what it is today.
 
Dr Havelange was very sympathetic to me and to my cause. He agreed to provide me with the loan and he so instructed the then Fifa general secretary Sepp Blatter on or about 1997 to proceed accordingly. By 1997, I had taken the loan and I bought the premises of Metal Box and Lever Brothers through two companies which I formed and I also bought lands from Tricon.
 
But having now bought the land there was nothing I could have done in terms of structure and therefore I went back to Dr Havelange and told him first of all I want the loan to be converted into a grant—a donation—and then I would want his help in terms of getting a structure in place. Dr Havelange’s help to me had not been unusual but I would say more about that later.
 
So on May 4, 1998, Dr Havelange wrote me and told me that he had found an external solution to convert the loan into a donation.  I have here the letter from Dr Havelange and you can follow on the screens as I ask that the letter be now read to you. Notice the date May 4, 1998.
 
On May 14, 1998, ten days later, I wrote Dr Havelange, thanking him for the external solution he had found to assist me with the construction of the Centre of Excellence. There is an error in the year of the referenced letter, which should have been 1998 and not 1996.
 
But notwithstanding that, let’s read: Again, by letter dated May 26, 1998, I wrote to Dr Havelange thanking him for converting the Fifa loan into a gift to the CFU and Jack Warner. On May 29, 1998, Dr Havelange responded by letter expressing his thanks. You may quite rightly ask why all this flurry of letters in the month of May 1998. Well I will tell you. Blatter was Havelange’s candidate to succeed him for the Fifa presidency.
 
Blatter had been at this time the most hated Fifa official by both the European and African confederations and without my Concacaf support at the Fifa elections, Blatter would never have seen the light of day as president of Fifa. I told Havelange that, through him, Blatter will get Concacaf’s total support and Bin Hammam also said the same day thing though at the time he did not have Asia’s 100 per cent support as I had with the Concacaf. “Votamos como un bloque,” I told my Central American colleagues.
 
In 1997, Havelange came to Antigua for the Shell Umbro Cup and in an invitation meeting at St James Club, Antigua, again reiterated his request to me. Again I promised him Concacaf’s total support. Then and there he began to count Blatter’s votes and said that if Concacaf supported Blatter he will win by thirty votes. Concacaf at the time had 30 voting members. The Fifa presidential elections were held in Paris on June 8, 1998. I will now ask that the results of that election be read.
 
Fifty-first Fifa congress in Paris in 1998. After 24 years in office, Havelange decides not to stand for re-election. The congress elects Joseph Blatter as his successor. Rival Lennart Johansson withdraws after Blatter has gained 111 votes to Johansson’s 80 after the first ballot. Joao Havelange becomes a Fifa honorary president. Joseph S Blatter, president of soccer’s world international governing body, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (Fifa), soccer’s world governing body.
 
Mr Blatter was elected at the 51st ordinary Fifa Congress on June 8, 1998, in Paris, defeating his opponent in the presidential election, Mr Lennart Johansson, by 111:80 votes. Before being elected Fifa president, Mr Blatter was general secretary of Fifa. Mr Blatter was appointed to this position in November 1981 after a distinguished career in business and sport, and was chief executive officer since 1990. Havelange was off by one! Blatter had defeated Johanssen by 31 votes instead of 30!
 
An interesting development at that Congress was that Haiti was absent and with Blatter’s permission, I got Captain Horace Burrell’s (of Jamaica) girlfriend to vote as the Haitian delegate by saying, “Oui!” when Haiti’s name was called. In 1998, therefore, I had delivered and since then I emerged the second highest sporting personality in the Fifa.
 
1. I was placed on six out of 11 committees; 2. I was the chairman of two and the deputy chairman of two, one being the prestigious finance committee of the Fifa; 3. Trinidad and Tobago was given the seat to host the Under-17 2001 World Cup, and 4. Additional financial assistance was given for the further construction of the Centre of Excellence.

[asylumseeker]

Tdot, I will respond later today ...

[asylumseeker]

The next Opposition move should be to "call for" a UNC nominee other than Jack.

Typically a political party does not wish to be perceived as meddling in the internal affairs of another political party, but, in the instant case, there is a defensible rationale for doing so because of the dimensions of this situation.

[Bakes]

Anil Roberts calls for ‘study’ of Concacaf report.
T&T Guardian Reports.
 
Sports Minister Anil Roberts is calling for the Law Association of T&T or independent minds to go through the Concacaf report, which accused Jack Warner of committing fraud.

Ent he say he come from ah family of lawyers?  Why he doh aks he family and dem to go thru it?

[coache]

Mr Warner had no choice but to resign.
 Because of the pressure from the US State Department on the Govt of Trinidad and Tobago, the Prime minister had to accept Mr Warner's resignation.
The relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and the US is a cordial one and the investigation by the
 FBI and IRS is serious and could affect relations.
 If Mr Warner didn't step down, it would appear to be contemptuous. Mr Warner is also the man in charge of National Security of a Democratic state and  in these turbulent times any breach  in integrity would also mean that National Security is compromised. He had to resign.
Yankee don't play games with tax evasion.

[Dumplingdinho]

jack will rise again...

[asylumseeker]

He could have said "no". However, that would have lead to him being dismissed. Such an outcome wouldn't have been helpful to his charade or the PP/UNC's interests.

I don't know that any of the decision-making involved over-reaching by the US gov't or through any implicit encroachment of sovereignty via US action.

What lasting political capital is gained by protecting Mr. Warner? At some point, we will arrive at the end of the consequence tunnel.

He didn't have to step down. However, the way things have panned out now have placed him in a stronger position than if he had been fired.

[Brownsugar]

jack will rise raise again...

Ah fix it for you.....

[Bourbon]

PM: Jack Must Clear Name First
By Richard Lord (T&T Guardian).

‘I’M NO ONE’S PUPPET’

Making it clear that no one controls her, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Saturday night rejected the contention of former minister Jack Warner that some members of the Cabinet influenced her to accept his resignation. She made this clear during a news conference at Piarco International Airport on her return from an official visit to Canada. 

Many people in T&T say she was “controlled by Mr Warner,” the Prime Minister said. “I don’t know if it is because I am a woman and people think that I am weak or something, so I was controlled by Mr Warner and I was his puppet, and now they say I am controlled by some other persons,” Persad-Bissessar said. “I want to make it very clear, the only people who control me are those who belong to the electorate, the citizenry of T&T, no one else.”

Responding to questions on Friday’s resignation of Warner as MP, Persad-Bissessar said she accepted his resignation based on the findings of the Sir David Simmons-led Concacaf Integrity Committee. Persad-Bissessar said that report influenced her to accept Warner’s resignation as national security minister’s a week ago. She also said Warner’s claim that her decision to accept his resignation was influenced by certain ministers was not true and that he was contradicting himself.

Persad-Bissessar said she read in the newspapers “where Warner says that he voluntarily resigned, but on the other hand he is saying that some ministers forced me, made me accept the resignation.” She said his claim was “an oxymoron because you cannot have (say) that you voluntarily did this and then accuse ministers of influencing my mind as to what is to be done.”

The Simmons report, delivered at the recent Concacaf congress in Panama, concluded that the association’s former leaders, Warner and former general secretary Charles “Chuck” Blazer, were “fraudulent in their management” of the body. The report noted that Warner had failed to disclose that the US$25.9 million (£17m) Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence was built on his land, while Blazer received US$20 million (£13.3m) from Concacaf.

Warner had claimed the response from both within and outside the party in the wake of the report led to his ultimate resignation. On Saturday, the PM also confirmed that last week Sunday was not the first time Warner had offered his resignation. She said he also did so shortly after a Reuters report claimed he was being investigated by the FBI and IRS and that his son was co-operating with US authorities in the probe. She said she advised Warner then to respond to the report.

“He did so then and he said he is willing to resign from any or all of those positions. At that time I did not accept his resignation because I still held the view that I could not act on newspaper allegations,” Persad-Bissessar said.

Asked if her discussion with a US official in Washington days after that incident influenced her decision to accept Warner’s latest resignation, she said: “What happened thereafter, what was different to two weeks ago to last Sunday when I accepted the resignation, was the report by a very eminent jurist (Sir David Simmons, chairman of the Concacaf Integrity Committee).

“So this was no longer a newspaper report, an opinion of journalists, not that I have anything against those, but every Monday morning somebody makes an allegation...do I then fire a minister, asking him to step down. We don’t operate like that. “I don’t think any Government can operate like that because allegations do not represent what may be the reality.”

She added: “It was the report presented by former (Barbados) Chief Justice Simmons and others who put their report forward and I felt in all of the circumstances I would want to accept that offer of resignation. That is what changed in that period of time.” The PM said she felt Warner’s resignation now offered him an opportunity “to clear his name.”

She said she also did not “understand why when Sir David Simmons was doing his investigations, Mr Warner did not put out his side of the story, because I read in the report that he did not co-operate and I was concerned about that.” “Why? Why didn’t he?” she asked of Warner’s refusal to respond to the allegations before the commission.

“If he had further information that was different, I found it a little surprising that he did not use the opportunity to put those forward and perhaps now he has a little more time in which he could put his case on his side to these matters in the public domain.”

Asked if she would also allow Warner to contest the forthcoming by-election on a UNC ticket as he desires to, Persad-Bissessar said the former minister will have to go through the normal party process. She said she was not prepared to say more on the matter, adding the party will decide on it in due course.

“It is not only an issue about the seat, because we all know Mr Warner has been a very good MP but there were other issues which came into the pot and into the mix and those still remain not yet dealt with and still outstanding and swirling around. So we see the way forward and put God in front and do what is right,” she said.

Persad-Bissessar was met at the airport by Labour Minister Errol McLeod, who acted in her absence, Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, Works and Local Government Minister Dr Surujrattan Rambachan and others.

[Jah Gol]

Right through the debates government MPs were talking about concacaf, FIFA and the TTFF . This is precisely why Rowley was right on not including Warner in the cabinet, his bacchanal became the government and the country's own. This is the worst case scenario that was all too preventable. It's a shame that our parliament needs to 'study' a concacaf report.

Now the Prime Minister is saying jack need to clear his name. They are ones saying that these allegations have been around for years . So apparently it wasn't necessary for him to clear his name before. Jokers, all of them !

[asylumseeker]

... but what consequence will they suffer for having not acted previously?

[soccerrama]

Warner’s speech is stand-up comedy
Jesse Fink (Fox Sports Asia)


Fox Sports columnist Jesse Fink believes Jack Warner's speech-making will not get him out of trouble after CONCACAF issued a damning report on his past.

Fox Sports
Monday 29th April 2013
By Jesse Fink
 
Who needs a new comedy from Judd Apatow or Seth MacFarlane when the laughs keep coming from Jack Warner?
 
The former Minister for National Security in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago and chairman of the United National Congress party fell on his sword (or, more likely, was pushed down on it, hard) after the release of an excoriating Integrity Report by CONCACAF, the football confederation he used to run with the sort of untouchable sangfroid Tony Soprano enjoyed conducting his business affairs from the back room at Bada Bing.
 
The CONCACAF report examined the historical conduct of Warner and his former US counterpart Chuck Blazer, and was damning of both men.
 
For Warner, the most serious allegation was that he "committed fraud against CONCACAF and FIFA in connection with the ownership and development of the Centre of Excellence" in Trinidad: a scandal first exposed by the crusading sports journalist Lasana Liburd on his Wired868 website last year and reported by FOX Sports Asia.
 
"Warner committed fraud in two ways," said the report. "First, Warner secured funds from CONCACAF and FIFA by falsely representing, and intentionally creating a false impression, that the COE was owned by CONCACAF when he knew that the property was in fact owned by his own companies.
 
"Second, Warner induced FIFA to transfer funds that were intended for development of the COE to himself personally by falsely representing that the bank accounts to which FIFA should send the funds were CONCACAF accounts when he knew that in fact he controlled them personally."
 
Corruption allegations are nothing new against "Teflon Jack"; he's made a career of collecting them like business cards.
 
It explains the pejorative nickname and it's why he left his virtually tenured post as FIFA executive member after the Mohamed Bin Hammam bribery scandal in 2011.
 
But this most recent round of charges levelled against him were fatal because it came not from FIFA, against which Warner has a habit of threatening to unleash "tsunamis" from time to time when things get too hot for him, or journalists, which he seems to breezily dismiss as a nebulous group of racist conspirators, but CONCACAF: his people. He ran the joint with impunity for two decades.
 
No chance of labelling this report a racist plot, either: the Integrity Committee was chaired by Sir David Anthony Cathcart Simmons of Barbados, a black man, and CONCACAF's president, Jeffrey Webb, is also black.
 
But Warner had a red-hot go anyway. More on that later.
 
So what did our man do? He organised a rally of his "constituents" - aka the fawning Jack rent-a-crowd - to answer the charges and employed Facebook to get his message across, a place where his acolytes are in plentiful supply.
 
He told his cheering audience he'd been "hounded and persecuted".
 
"For the past two decades, I have been the target of various kinds of attacks. I have been targeted. My family has been targeted. My friends have been targeted. My detractors have said every dirty thing under the sun about Jack Warner."
 
Yes. Speaking about himself in the third person. And he did it so many times during his speech he even dropped into "fourth person" at one point, as former USA defender Alexi Lalas joked on Twitter. Defences for his conduct, on stage and online, ran thick and fast.
 
"I have never been a burden to the treasury of Trinidad and Tobago. My hands are clean."
 
"These attacks are based on a strategy crafted by some conspiratorial cowards!"
 
"I met and fulfilled every objective as it relates to football both in Trinidad and the Caribbean."
 
"The hardest fight for me is to strike internal enemies."
 
"I too am crying but I am crying from the inside where the hurt is most painful."
 
"One must ask the question how did little Jack Warner manage to stay in his corner under the radar and enjoyed [sic] so much success for so long? Or is it just that what we are seeing today is the vindictiveness of an oligarchy against one who attempted to challenge the power of a Eurocentric and white regime and thus balance the playing field so that leaders of every colour, race and ethnicity could have a fair chance to become a president of FIFA?"
 
Nice try, no cigar.
 
Warner went on to attack FIFA president Sepp Blatter and British journalist Andrew Jennings but couldn't land anything substantive on them that put them down for the count. The paid invoices he furnished as supposed proof of FIFA's knowledge of his ownership were issued under the name of the centre with no details of his personal bank account. The valuation report for the centre with the name of his company on it, Renraw, showed no evidence of being transmitted to and received by CONCACAF.
 
Warner also insisted that "at no point in time" had he "kept the ownership of the Centre of Excellence a secret" and says he told the Trinidad Express about it in July 2012.
 
Why, then, in May that year did he state that the Caribbean Football Union owned it? As he told Trinidad's Sunday Guardian: "[CONCACAF] have all the records, they can check it and see who owns it and who doesn't own it, what they have paid and what they haven't paid. What I do know is that I don't own it, so what is all the fuss about?"
 
Twelve months on, he's flip-flopped again.
 
"The truth is that the Centre of Excellence was a gift to Jack Warner to improve the development of football within the Caribbean Football Union and without a doubt it has achieved its goal."
 
No apology. No contrition. Not a shred of humility.
 
There was some small mercy to this self-serving drivel. Warner announced he would resign as an MP but left the door open to return to public life: "Come July 24th, 2013, who knows, with your love, your support and your understanding, I shall be your MP again."
 
Let's hope this is the last we've seen and heard of this man who in my opinion was a blight on football governance in the Caribbean.
 
He was no champion of the underdog, as he likes to make out. In my view, he was out for nobody but himself.
 
The game has gone through enough under his stewardship and were it not for the efforts of journalists such as Liburd and Jennings, he might still be wielding disproportionate power at CONCACAF and FIFA.
 
Read the scoreboard, Jack. It's game over.

[Observer]

Somebody please find a mule, or donkey & a sunset, for this man to ride off into nah.

[zuluwarrior]

http://transparencyinsportblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/the-thief-the-conman-and-the-ship-of-aussie-fools/

[asylumseeker]

Somebody please find a mule, or donkey & a sunset, for this man to ride off into nah.

De fat lady eh start singing yet, so he's not particularly moved ... yet.

[E-man]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/04/jack-warner-resigns

[D.H.W]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/04/jack-warner-resigns

Strange this author starts off describing the road.

[royal]

Frigging Warner in every newspaper and magazine around the world making we look stupid.What ah horrendous choice from de PM. it bad enough he corrupt but everybody laughing because he was a gov't minister in T&T.How silly can ah people be?

[coache]

Good riddance to bad rubbish..now I don't have to hear dis inarticulate,  big red tongue, monkey face crook talk at me on de t.v pointing his finger in de air with all that nasty arrogance...I hope dey jail his arse for a long time. Yankees doh play ..dey will get im eventually....CROOK..YUH  GOIN TO JAIL!!!
Yuh still have my money!!
Go back to Caiacou...Trinidad people don't look like dis man and we don't talk like dat neither..nastiness..

[Deeks]

Good riddance to bad rubbish..now I don't have to hear dis inarticulate,  big red tongue, monkey face crook talk at me on de t.v pointing his finger in de air with all that nasty arrogance...I hope dey jail his arse for a long time. Yankees doh play ..dey will get im eventually....CROOK..YUH  GOIN TO JAIL!!!
Yuh still have my money!!
Go back to Caiacou...Trinidad people don't look like dis man and we don't talk like dat neither..nastiness..

Coache, Jack is exactly the way was some  Trinis does look. Don't jump on small island people for  a born and bred trini crooked-ness. The people of Cariacou has nothing to do with jack and TT politics.

[E-man]

GO AFTER JACK
Veteran players want TTFF action
By Kern De Freitas (T&T Express)

Trinidad and Tobago’s veteran footballers are calling for the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) to take legal action against former CONCACAF president Jack Warner to recover funds generated from T&T’s World Cup 2006 campaign.

The Veteran Footballers Foundation of T&T (VFFOTT), through vice-president Selby Browne, said yesterday that TTFF president Raymond Tim Kee must take action against Warner in the wake of reports by Express investigative reporter Camini Marajh into Warner’s handling of TTFF and LOC Germany 2006 accounts, and try to recover over $100 million still unaccounted for.

“The new president of the TTFF (Tim Kee) and the TTFF must bring legal action against Jack Warner to recover the (missing) funds,” Browne told the Express yesterday.

“The TTFF must call in the fraud squad or DPP as it relates to the actions of Warner. The TTFF, and we in Trinidad, cannot sit here and rely on outside persons to treat with the Jack Warner debacle that we have here in Trinidad. The source of everything started right here in Trinidad football.”

According to Browne, VFFOTT has made several attempts to meet with Tim Kee, but has not been able to secure a meeting.

The veteran footballers have called a “special meeting” for May 11 at Barataria Sports Complex, where they will discuss the “implications” of the recent CONCACAF integrity committee report that accused Warner and ex-CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer of fraud and mismanagement of funds.
Browne believes that with Warner involved, T&T football has experienced a downward slide.

“In 1974, Trinidad and Tobago was qualifying for the number one slot in CONCACAF,” he said. “In 2006 we were qualifying for the 3½ (playoff) spot. So during the tenure of Warner from 1974 to date, T&T football fell at minimum three, four notches in CONCACAF.”

VFFOTT has also stated that the “sole priority” is to return T&T football to its previous “glorious product”.
Browne is also happy that the TTFF looks set to pay the 2006 “Soca Warriors”, who have been embroiled in a legal battle with the local governing body over World Cup bonuses promised them by Warner, since that year.

“We have said years ago that is long outstanding. That should have been done by the TTFF and then (they should have) pursued Warner, who has still not produced his books for the TTFF.”

[asylumseeker]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/04/jack-warner-resigns

E-man, did you see the one about Uli Hoeness? Also in the Economist. Ah know that's close to your heart.

[E-man]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/04/jack-warner-resigns

E-man, did you see the one about Uli Hoeness? Also in the Economist. Ah know that's close to your heart.

Yeah, I didn't see the Economist version, but he blew it big time. At least he tried coming up with the money.

[asylumseeker]

Moonilal is correct, but he's not saying anything that Mr. Warner doesn't understand instinctively. This move by Warner will go down in the annals of T&T political history as very telling. I can conceive of at least 3 possible scenarios occurring ...  and yet again,none of them reaps any automatic rewards for the Opposition.

Care to expand on that?

Ok, ah late  ...

He could have resigned and walked away from the three posts (Cabinet, party chair, and MP). He didn't opt to cast off the MP post completely, and that's because it (by his analysis) continues to provide him a useful platform. The first scenario I see is that he miscalculates the outcome (ah mean, he ent chupid ... he already knows it's a gamble) and is not re-nominated for the seat (aside from his legal liabilities, his lack of consultation with the party brass will be held against him - despite his rhetoric to the ppl of having the party's interest at heart). Clearly, the UNC wants to maintain this seat with minimum static, but there's honestly no significant danger of the UNC losing the seat even if Jack gives trouble and creates a stir were he not to be nominated. The PNM can't win this riding, but they could maintain their voter base and siphon independent/disgruntled votes with the right chords struck ... not a significant number, but enough (see below).

Today, Chaguanas West has an electorate of probably about 27,000 voters max ... give or take. In the most recent General Elections (3 years ago), about 20,000 voters turned out. The constituency voter roll at that time was about 25,000 voters. Mr. Warner got nearly 19,000 votes. Only the PNM and the UNC contested this riding. The other candidate got 1,000 plus votes. Couple things to note ... a) this was a General Election with a particularly motivated voter pool and b) there was no third entity participating.

In the previous Gen Elec (2007; when 3 parties fielded candidates in this riding, JW still prevailed, but whereas the PNM's performance was at or about the same as in the 2010 election ... COP polled in excess of 5,000 votes! Thus, I disagree with Fishs analysis expressed elsewhere ... JW's personal cachet is IMV insufficient to override the party machinery of the UNC, particularly if there's an overwhelming personality choice on the other side(s) of the ballot.

Despite being adroit at taking care of his ppl, JW has to overcome their loyalty to party in order to get their votes his way. I doh see that happening in sufficient numbers ... particularly if other parties crowd the field. So crowding the field works to the UNC's benefit as does what I discuss below re: bye-elections.

Bye-elections tend not to drive the same level of turnout as is driven during General Elections ... and lower turnout would favour UNC performance.

There won't be a backlash against the UNC by the voters of Chaguanas West. So even if JW bolts the barn and still hopes to place his name on the ballot (scenario 2) ... it effectively is just a question of delaying the inevitable.

Sorry ... ah writing this piecemeal with one eye on some other matters ... will have to return to this.

[Tallman]

Jack and the demise of local football
By Theodore Lewis (T&T Express)

What do you do when an actor refuses to leave the stage? In the Apollo theatre in Harlem, they have an ingenious device in the form of a long hook. If you are performing badly, and the crowd starts to boo, someone with the hook gets it around your neck and they pull you off unceremoniously.

Jack Warner cannot leave the stage. His performance is over. A former chief justice of Barbados says that what he was up to in Concacaf was fraud, this absolutely mortal blow to the man in charge of crime here. The mongoose was in charge of the chickens in football. With that Jack fell down and broke his crown. And he knows that in that nursery rhyme, Jill came tumbling after. But Jack does not have it in him to leave stoically. No, he wants an encore. He is hearing the voices. Peron! Peron! coming from Charlieville and Longdenville, and from the acting head of police. He is thinking, the crowd still likes me, look at them! I deserve an encore.

But the indictment against Jack is not that he is unpopular. It is that he has committed fraud, according to Sir David Simmons. The remedy for that cannot be multiple elections showing that the people like you.

The remedy has to be to show that you have not been engaged with fraud—that you can account for every dollar intended for the upliftment of football in the country. But that will be difficult to do, by a man who is rich enough to be one of the prime financial backers of a major political party in this country.

Read More...

[Bakes]

A fine retrospective on the glory days of football as culture in TnT.  Not sure he necessarily ties its demise to Jack's rise, but he juxtaposes the two brilliantly.