By Andrew Warshaw
October 12 – The hearing into the roles played by 15 Caribbean officials in the FIFA bribery scandal is using explosive video evidence of ex-FIFA vice-president Jack Warner (pictured) urging them to accept cash gifts, it was reported today.
FIFA’s Ethics Committee has set aside the whole week before ruling on whether the 15 officials are guilty of corruption, with a verdict due to be delivered on Friday (October 14).
According to the Daily Telegraph, the four Ethics Committee members have been presented with a recording of a speech made by Warner to members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) in Trinidad on May 11.
Warner resigned several months ago after being charged with bribery, while former Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam, for whom the Trinidad meeting was set up ostensibly to unveil his Presidential manifesto against Sepp Blatter, was banned for life for allegedly offering CFU members $40,000 (£26,000/€30,000) in bundles of cash.
The video shows Warner telling CFU members he had told Bin Hammam to bring the cash but, in what many might construe as a piece of double-dealing, that they did not necessarily have to vote for the Qatari at the election on June 1.
Bin Hammam’s challenge ultimately never happened when he was banned for life.
Warner says on the video: “When Mohamed Bin Hammam asked to come to the Caribbean he wanted to bring some silver plaques and wooden trophies and bunting and so on, and told me to bring for 30 people would be too much luggage.
“I told him he did not need to bring anything but if he wanted to bring anything to bring something equivalent to the value of the gift that he brought.
“I said to him if you bring cash, I don’t want you to give cash to anybody, but when you do you can give it to the CFU and the CFU will give it to his members.
“Because I don’t want [it] to even remotely appear that anyone has any obligation to vote for you because of what gifts you have given them, and he fully accepted that.”
Warner also says in the video that he would return any money if the officials chose not to keep it.
“I know there are some people here who believe they are more pious than thou,” he continued.
“If you are pious go to a church friends, but the fact is that our business is our business.
“If there is anybody here who has a conscience and wishes to send back the money I am willing to take the money and give it back to him at any moment.”
Warner also launches a remarkable broadside at UEFA president Michel Platini (pictured left), favourite to take over FIFA from Blatter (right) in 2015.
“We have to ensure Platini is not some automatic inheritor of FIFA,” says Warner.
“Because I tell you if that happens FIFA will become a French province.
“Forever.
“The fact is that Platini is being groomed to succeed Mr Blatter and we don’t know if it is in our best interests to have a French President, a French general secretary…but in any event I don’t think it’s in our best interests to do that.
“I have told him [Blatter] that we who have supported him faithfully have not benefited from that support.
“We stood up and backed him and then he went to embrace his enemies and not his friends.”
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