BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – INFORMATION coming out of Zurich today (May 29) states that CONCACAF’s President Jack Warner, who is also FIFA’s Vice-President, and President of the Asian Football Confederation Mohamed bin Hammam were suspended from the football’ world governing body pending investigations into bribery allegations.
Also suspended were two officials of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), Trinidadians Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, while FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter was cleared of allegations made against him, which will see him run unopposed for a fourth term at Wednesday (June 1) vote.
However, according to New York Times sports reporter Jeré Longman, “Blatter’s credibility has suffered greatly, given that his 13-year presidency has faced a number of corruption crises within FIFA. Eight of the 24 members of FIFA’s executive committee have been accused of selling or offering to sell their votes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded last fall to Russia and Qatar, respectively.”
The decision was made today by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.
Deputy Chair of the organisation’s Executive Committee, Petrus Damased told reporters at a press conference in Zurich that they are satisfied there is a case to be answered.
The committee however stressed that the accused are regarded innocent until proven guilty.
Warner and bin Hammam are accused of offering some US$1M in cash bribes to 25 officials of the CFU at a conference held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad on May 9 and 10.
It is alleged that the conference was organised by Warner and the payments were made to secure votes for bin Hammam in his campaign to challenge Blatter for the presidency.
The accusations against the two men were made by American Chuck Blazer, who is also an executive of the football’s world governing body.
However, Hammam, who yesterday withdrew his presidential bid, admitted to paying travel and accommodation expenses for the attendees, as well as costs for the conference, but denied the bribery allegations.
He claimed that the allegations were a plot by Blatter’s camp to have him removed from the presidential contest.
Hammam also claimed that Blatter knew about the cash offers and had given his approval for their disbursement.
Prior to his suspension, Warner, in Trinidad, told reporters, “In the next couple days you will see a football tsunami that will hit FIFA and the world that will shock you.”
He had also dismissed suggestions that evidence compiled by former US federal prosecutor John Collins could end his career within FIFA.
“Why should I be hanged now and by whom? The American Chuck Blazer? American lawyer John Collins? Give me a break guys. I will hold my head high to the very end because I am not guilty of a single iota of wrongdoing. Que sera sera. I am not remotely bothered,” Warner told the reporters.
It is reported that a number of whistle-blowers had told investigators the money was given to them as a “gift”.
They also said they were told “not to tell anyone about the cash, not to discuss the cash with the others and not to show anyone the money”.
The whistle-blowers further said they were initially told the money was a gift from the CFU but, Warner, on the following day, told them it was from bin Hammam whom he had advised to make cash gifts.
