Four Fifa executives accused by Lord Triesman are ‘in the clear’
By Matt Scott in Zurich
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 May 2011
The four Fifa executive committee members accused of corruption by Lord Triesman have been cleared by a Football Association inquiry, according to the world governing body’s interpretation of a 200-page dossier it was handed last week.
The FA commissioned Paul Dingemans QC to investigate the claims raised by Triesman under parliamentary privilege this month. Triesman, the former FA chairman, alleged that four Fifa executives asked for favours in return for voting for England’s 2018 World Cup bid.
Triesman accused Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi of “improper and unethical” conduct. But Fifa believes senior England 2018 figures have rejected those explosive claims. All four had denied wrongdoing.
Fifa’s general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, said on Sunday: “I have just got the FA report – it’s a big report, 200 pages – which we asked for after Triesman’s allegations. I hope Fifa will agree to make it public because all the people here are completely cleared, so I’m glad the person appointed by the FA took time to hear not only Triesman but also David Dein, Simon Johnson, Andy Anson and other people who were part of the bid.”
Triesman is understood not to withdraw anything he said under parliamentary privilege. He alleged that Warner had demanded assistance with building a football training facility in Trinidad worth $2.5m.
However, Sir Dave Richards, the former England 2018 board member who accompanied Triesman in the meeting with Warner, denied that Warner had solicited anything of the sort. This is an apparent contradiction of statements that Richards has made previously.
It was further alleged by Triesman that Leoz, who is the long-serving member of the South American confederation, Conmebol, requested a knighthood. But Dein, the international president of England 2018, Johnson, its chief operating officer, and Anson, the chief executive, could not corroborate that. Instead their evidence was that one of Leoz’s entourage may have made such a request. Valcke said: “It never did come from Leoz directly.”
Valcke introduced reference to the Dingemans dossier in response to a question about concerns raised in the Brazilian parliament about allegations of corruption surrounding Teixeira. “Speaking of other members and the process starting in Brazil, I can’t say more about that,” he said. “All the people here, especially Teixeira and [Thailand’s Worawi] Makudi, they are completely clean of all the allegations.”
The FA was not immediately available for comment, although one bid source said Valcke’s reading of the report chimed with his understanding.
Meanwhile, allegations made under parliamentary privilege that Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid benefited from illicit payments to voters – claims it has vigorously denied – also appear unlikely to be proven. Fifa’s president, Sepp Blatter, had raised the prospect of reopening the voting process for that World Cup.
But Blatter said: “This was not discussed at the ethics committee and the alleged payments made to two of our executive-committee members. There has been no information or evidence on that. We know a whislteblower made an allegation weeks ago but we have not yet had the chance to discuss these allegations against members.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/29/fifa-lord-triesman
Report clears Exco members of Triesman claims, says FIFA
ZURICH: Four FIFA executive committee members accused by former English FA chairman David Triesman of seeking favours for votes have been cleared, soccer’s governing body said on Sunday. Triesman, who ran both the English FA and its 2018 World Cup bid until last May, told a parliamentary inquiry this month that Jack Warner of Trinidad & Tobago, Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay, Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil and Worawi Makudi of Thailand had engaged in “improper and unethical” conduct. FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said on Sunday an independent report commissioned by the FA did not back up the allegations.
Jack Warner unleashes his ‘tsunami’ with Blatter and Valcke accusations
Fifa has been rocked further as Sepp Blatter and Jérôme Valcke, its two most senior figures, were accused of a “politically motivated” subversion of the presidential election process by one of the men suspended in the ethics committee inquiry. Jack Warner was the vice-president who had spent almost 30 years on Fifa’s executive committee until his provisional suspension on Sunday. Now, having warned of “a football tsunami” ahead of this week’s election, he threatens to tear Fifa apart from within, challenging his suspension through the courts.
Jack Warner: analysing the Fifa allegations
A detailed look at how the Fifa vice-president has attacked the personal integrity of Sepp Blatter and Jérôme Valcke
FIFA rocked by even more bribery allegations
ZURICH – FIFA’s bribery scandal spread Monday beyond allegations about the presidential election to include the selection of Qatar as the 2022 World Cup host, with evidence that FIFA’s second in command suggested the desert nation had “bought” the right to host the world’s biggest single-sport event. Qatar’s World Cup organizers swiftly denied the claim made in a private email from FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke.
It is always wise to avoid rushing to judgement.
Jack Warner has not been found guilty of anything. These are allegations.His explanation is just as credible as the accusations being made. Let the investigation on the second set of accusations run its course.
Once again, political motivation is dominating the thinking of many when they prematurely condemn the man.
Are the Brits and their media are still holding Jack responsible for their loss of the World cup to South Africa?
He’s 100% corrupt, and the Brits didn’t lose the WC to south africa, they lost it to Russia. FIFA is in total chaos and the English FA will leave. I think it’s fair to say if you publicly embarrass england like fifa did, england will pay you back. FIFA has totally underestimated how england would react.
Congrats Jack! I knew you would be victorious!
He hasn’t won. He’s still in BIG trouble. You don’t have a clue whats going on I think.
But if the Puerto Rico delegation have returned their bribe money, there had to be bribe money, not so? The bigger concern I have is how this mess at the Hyatt subverts the currency and customs regulations of Trinidad and Tobago, and how a sitting Deputy Prime Minister can be a party to apparently subverting the laws of Trinidad and Tobago as they apply to curency control and corruption. Warner has brought disgrace to our little island nation, for the glorification of his own ego.I do not care if Qatar bought the entire FIFA group, I care what Mr. Warner does because he is a comment on all of us.
Fifa clears Warner of Triesman charges
Embattled Fifa Vice President Jack Warner said yesterday he regained some hope in the power of truth and transparency after the English Football Association cleared him and three other Fifa executives of bribery allegations levelled against them by former head of the FA, Lord Triesman.
Cleared Jack claims victory
WORKS and Transport Minster, Jack Warner, has claimed victory after being cleared of bribery allegations made by former England Football Association chairman Lord Triesman.
Victory my Aunt. He conspired in foreign national, Bin Hammam,in bringing a million dollars in cash to Trinidad and Tobago, to be distributed to buy votes for his presidential bid. Puerto Rico returned the money. Someone else photograophed it. Now while Jack was braying in Geneva, he admitted to giving the CONCACAF delegates the money as “cover for expenses”.
Let me put this in context: An engineer friend of mine, who holds patents for gas processing measures, was commissioned to inspect a plant in California for a Nigerian company. If it was sound, it would be purchased, dismantled and shipped to a new site to be re-assembled.
His Expenses were: Airfare, about $400.00, hotel accommodation for two nights about $400.00, transportation $100. and he was paid a consulting fee of $3000.00 and a per diem of $150.00 per day for three days.That’s a total of $4450.
How does a two day meeting requir $40,000 if it was not a bribe?
An arrest warrant should be issued by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, for Minister of Works Jack Warner, for currency violations, corruption, and other nefarious activities. Again, Mr. Bin Hammam’s Customs Declaration, on entering TnT, should be checked to see if he declared the one million US dollars he brought in. If he did not declare it, he is lible to be charged by US currency authorities, in addition to Trinidad and Tobago’s. If he declared it, and was given a fee pass with that much on him, someone in Customs and Immigration needs to be fired. Wiping out corruption is wiping out corruption. No exceptions, regardless of who has a file on whom. It also leads me to wonder if Ms. Kamla’s frequent trips abroad, are to bring in wads of cash. Remember when Mr. Nixon went to China? US Customes siezed a plant he was trying to bring back without declaring it. He was a sitting US president at the time.
Laws are supposed to be bigger than men.In Trinidad, its the opposite. You elect a government of liars, and you get a government of liars and thieves. So glad my other country of citizenship denied Bin hamman a visa to enter.
Little Jack Warner sitting in the corner…, tell them your “wrongdoing” is not as bad as the MBTT parasitic oligarchy acting as if they by themselves are the T&T Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having embarked on an anti-Cuba campaign, leaving the 283 year old University of Havana off the list of Traditional Universities, and blocking Cuban doctors and Cuban-trained Trinbagonian doctors from practicing medicine in T&T. Is the MBTT now dictating T&T foreign policy, and enforcing the illegal USA embargo against Cuba, towards selling T&T as a USA puppet state?
So glad to see that Fitzgerald Hinds, and many bloggers at the Expess papers have taken the exact same position that I have on the Warner affair. Bribery is a crime, illegal importation of foreigh currency is a crime. These things are being said by the doer of the crime himself. What is Ms. Kamla waiting on? She want to drown in Jack’s tsunami or what?Every major paper’s editorial had said he should step down or be removed from his powerful political positions in TnT. memebrs of his own coalition are calling for him to step down. It seems that soon, only tose who are recipients of the largesse her reportedly hands out from his constituency office, acting like an AFRICAN CHIEFTAIN AT A CONGRESS(DURBA) OF HIS PEOPLE, WOULD CONTINUE TO SUPPORT HIM, BECAUSE HE LINES THEIR POCKETS.
WHAT A KLEPTOCRACY, WHAT A THEFTOCRACY MY BELOVED TNT HAS BECOME.ALL YUH VOTED FOR DAT.
“WHAT A KLEPTOCRACY, WHAT A THEFTOCRACY MY BELOVED TNT HAS BECOME.ALL YUH VOTED FOR DAT”
We have very short memories. It was worse under the last government.
I suspect that Jack Warner will do the honorable thing and step down pending the outcome of the investigation.
I am sure that he is conscious of the pressure that this caper would put on the PM and the government. If he lives up to the stellar reputation bestowed upon him by his constituents, he would temporarily resign.
If he fails to do so, he should be suspended pending the outcome.
The people of T&T has rated him as the best performing minister in the government. He is noted for his generosity, efficiency, empathy,competence and patriotism. Jack will do the right thing.
TMAn, where is the specific info of the previous government dealing in a million dollars of US currency, distribured as a bribe, by a minister of government? Squandermania and a theftocracy are not the same thing. Mr. Warner, in his own words says that he was given a million US by Blatter, to use as CONCACAF sees fit. He, being concacaf, used the money to compensate CONCACAF delegates who came to the Hyatt. Some people gave the money back when the scandal broke, some kept it. I hope my friend who was chair of the Ligue de Fotball de Mrtinique was not one of those who kept the bribe.
The circumstances surrounding this million dollar deal is what disgusts me about Warner, and makes me think he should be forced out. He conspired with a foreigner to commit a financial crime, on TnT soil, involving foreign curency. How can a minister controlling a lucrative portfolio,so denigrate the values of his country, that he corrupts others, and brings our nation into disrepute?
Now, if you know of a similar story involving the PNM, do tell. Patrick may have been pigheaded, but when Dhansook went to him with his bribe stories involving Franklin Khan and Eric Williams, Patos turned the file over to the DPP so that he could proceed.That was the action of an honorable man.Khan and Williams resigned, though they were later cleared, and Dhansook admitted that he lied.Who paid him to lie, we never found out.
If you cannot see what is wrong with Warner’s actions, you are a bigger dunce than I previously thought, and trying to explain to you is a colossal waste of my time. I am done here.
This is only one more. There are so many.
“Under the previous administration the National Entrepreneurship Development Company (Nedco) served as a “free for all”. So said Minister of Labour, Small and Micro Enterprise Development Errol McLeod who claims that millions of dollars remain outstanding to the company by individuals who borrowed claiming it was for business start-up. McLeod is alleging the funds have been misappropriated”
It is always wise to avoid rushing to judgement.
Jack Warner has not been found guilty of anything. These are allegations.His explanation is just as credible as the accusations being made. Let the investigation on the second set of accusations run its course.
Listen to this human embodiment of hypocrisy. This deceitful knave who lsbeled every one in the PNM who had not been convicted of any crime a criminal. The hypocrisy makes one wish to puke.
This deceitful knave has spent the last two years condemning and judging people based on allegations, and now in one of the most glaring example of hypocrisy attempts to beat on his chest and lecture others about jumping to conclusions.
It takes all kinds to make a world I suppose, and T&T has been cursed with some of the most facetious and gold fish minded people. John Lennon said that One thing you can’t hide – is when you’re crippled inside.” There are few that demonstrate the fact that their mind is wheel chair bound more than than a hypocrite who lectures people about acts he commits himself.
Mr. Williams has arisen from his slumber to once more abuse and categorize in his usual uncivilized manner. We all love passion, loyalty and the occassional John Lennon quote which he so proudly proclaims.He also continues his obsession with mental disabilities and now wheelchairs and physical disabilities.He even delves into the use of the use of classical literary expression-“deceitful knave”, good one! A lot of effort to say absolutely nothing.
If he were truly informed, he would be aware of the fact that the PNM installed DPP in T&T is using his office to stall all prosecutions against the crooks who were happily voted out of office.One is being allowed to walk all over T&T with less than 60 supporters following him, as he pays lip service to the present leader of the PNM, but in reality is challenging his leadership.
Have you ever wondered why Calder Hart abandonned his possessions and fled?
Do you know who was one of Patrick Manning’s main accomplices?
Why do you think the prophetess disappeared?
Why was the famous church abandonned?
Who paid the squatters in cash to move their “house” from the land on which the church was going to be built?
Why were illegal contracts offered to foreign firms with connections to Hart and the PM?
I could go on and on, but like all nationals we are awaiting answers and coming up with premature conspiracy theories.
There was squandermania but there was also theft and corruption.
Your problem is that you are so politically motivated that you cannot be objective, and as bloggers, there is nothing wrong with that.
Of course you could go on without getting to the point I made. You can never address the points I make, but meander into conjours of your own making in order to avoid the facts. My point remains that you are a hypocrite. I make that contention because you are lecturing people about their prejudgement of Warner’s situation when you have spent an eternity on this blog doing the same.
You are a deceitful knave. You have to be to jump on a pedestal and lecture others about rushing to judgement when you do the same every time a rumor or allegation comes to the fore against your political foes. Your comment in this context is akin to beating on your chest and praying loudly in the streets so that those who witness it might equate that drama with genuine concern for the rule of law. But it is a lost cause. You have been exposed, and will continue to be exposed for the deceit you practise in this blog.
Again, I am not responsible for your inability to read and understand. And this is the case. Where is objectivity an issue in my post. My post does not take a position either way on the Warner issue you nut. Can’t you read. My post takes issue with your position that people should not rush to judgement, when there is evidence in this blog that you do the same thing when it is political and ethnically expedient.
I quoted the assertion in your comment with which I took issue, but again, you react as expected, jumping all over the damn place rather than dealing with the point. Boyoboy, you are indeed a deceiful knave.