(Trinidad Express) Former FIFA vice-president and National Security Minister Jack Warner says he has nothing further to say in relation to the decision and findings of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which linked him to the distribution of US$1 million in “gifts” to Caribbean Football Union officials last May.
Warner, who was yesterday provided with a copy of the court’s media release relating to its decision against former FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam, said through his adviser Francis Joseph, he did not see anything new from what he had seen on Thursday.
On Thursday, the CAS upheld an appeal from Bin Hammam against a FIFA life ban from all football-related activity over bribery allegations, on the basis that it did not have sufficient evidence linking Bin Hammam directly to the distribution of approximately US$1 million in cash during a meeting at the Hyatt Recency hotel in Trinidad last May.
The money was allegedly to be paid as bribes to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials in exchange for election votes in favour of Bin Hammam.
However, evidence put before the CAS during the Bin Hammam hearing, establishes that the money did come into Trinidad and Tobago by whatever means, and has also linked Warner to its distribution.
At a news conference at the Ministry of National Security in Temple Court on Abercromby Street, Port of Spain on Thursday, Warner said he felt “relieved” and vindicated after CAS annulled the ban on bin Hammam.
Asked to comment on Warner’s reaction, Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal said the statement by CAS contained nothing to vindicate Warner.
“It says that the case against Bin Hammam was not proven and that there was no evidence to establish a link between him and the money,” Seetahal said.
“When the officials were told the money came from him (Bin Hammam), he had already left. It was not said in his presence. I guess Mr Warner is relying on the statement that the investigation of FIFA was not complete or comprehensive. I suppose he could say, tangentially, that it would extrapolate to him in the sense that if he was also investigated, the ruling, that there was insufficient evidence, would also have been made in his case.”
The CAS panel, consisting of José Maria Alonso, Spain (Chairman), Philippe Sands QC, United Kingdom, and Romano Subiotto QC, Belgium/United Kingdom established that:
“Mr Bin Hammam invited Mr Warner to convene a special meeting of CFU members, with the purpose of offering Mr Bin Hammam the opportunity to make a presentation in view of the forthcoming election to the FIFA presidency.”
“Mr Warner arranged for each member present to be offered a personal gift of US$40,000 and said that gift was from the CFU. The following morning, at an urgent meeting, Mr Warner changed his story, telling those present that was the gift from Mr Bin Hammam.”
Bin Hammam, along with Warner, was implicated in the alleged bribery scandal and suspended by FIFA, the governing body for international football. Warner and Bin Hammam were accused of conspiring to offer bribes to Caribbean football officials as an inducement to them to vote in the latter’s favour during upcoming FIFA elections.
Both Warner and Bin Hammam were initially suspended by FIFA and placed under investigation. Warner quit international football, on the eve of his case being heard, and as a result had his matter dropped, while Bin Hammam, who withdrew from the presidential race, was later banned for life by FIFA, and appealed to the CAS.
However, in delivering its judgment, CAS said its decision did not amount to an “affirmative finding of innocence” for Bin Hammam, adding that FIFA’s investigation had not been thorough enough, and the case could be re-opened with new evidence.
“The CAS panel has not been presented with evidence to directly link Mr Bin Hammam with the money’s physical presence in Trinidad and Tobago, its transfer in a suitcase to Mr Warner, and its subsequent offer to the CFU members for the purpose of inducing them to vote for Mr Bin Hammam,” CAS said in its judgment.
In coming to its judgment, the Laussane-based independent arbitration committee establishes on several occasions that Warner had a leading role in distributing cash to Caribbean football officials.
“Following the speech and Mr Bin Hammam’s departure from the conference room, Mr Jack Warner, who was at the time a member of the FIFA Executive Committee, announced that there were “gifts” for representatives,” CAS said.
“In the afternoon of 10 May 2011, the CFU General Secretary (Angenie Kanhai) collected from Mr Warner’s office a locked suitcase, containing a number of unmarked envelopes, each containing US$40,000, which were distributed to CFU delegates on the same day.”
“On 11 May 2011, after Mr Bin Hammam had already left Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Warner called an unexpected meeting during which he declared that Mr Bin Hammam had provided money to the CFU in place of traditional “gifts”, it said.
The CAS panel stated, “This conclusion should not be taken to diminish the significance of its finding that it is more likely than not that Mr Bin Hammam was the source of the monies that were brought into Trinidad and Tobago and distributed eventually at the meeting by Mr Warner, and that in this way, his conduct, in collaboration with and most likely induced by Mr Warner, may not have complied with the highest ethical standards that should govern the world of football and other sports.”
