Warner: A Jack of all trades

Fifa vice-president Jack Waner. Photo: www.news.co.tt

Trinidad and Tobago may not be at the World Cup but that will not stop one of their officials from making a profit in South Africa.

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner is estimated to have made over £2million from football this year already and is expecting more cash from TV revenue and ticket sales at this summer’s tournament.

Warner was re-elected minister of works and transport in Trinidad’s general elections on Monday, despite there being question marks about his probity and financial dealings.

The president of North, Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) is accused of being a ‘liar‘, a ‘thief‘ and even a ‘racist‘ by Andrew Jennings in his book ‘Foul!‘.

Jack, 67, is a millionaire thanks to football and here is how it happened.

The former linesman was going to be a police cadet before becoming a history school teacher. He later became secretary of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) in 1973.

Warner’s first controversial act came in 1989, when he almost created his own Hillsborough disaster after selling extra tickets for Trinidad’s match against USA.

He printed 45,000 tickets, despite the national stadium having a maximum capacity of 28,500.

The team needed only a draw to secure a place at the 1990 World Cup. They lost 1-0 and a potential death trap from wild celebrations sparked by qualification was averted.

Jack initially denied it, but later confessed to over-selling in his biography. He got away with it and was appointed CONCACAF president the following year.

Warner has since made a rich living out of football by reselling the region’s TV rights for every World Cup. According to Jennings, he has also profited by stealing football money and touting tickets.

                                    Jack bribes voters?

The Caribbean official regularly violates Fifa’s Ethics Code. Most notably ignoring the general rule on officials ‘not abusing their position for private aims or gains‘.

He got Jamaican Football president Horace Burrell to replace Haiti delegate Dr. Jean-Marie Kyss with Burrell’s girlfriend Vincy Jalal for the 1996 Fifa congress.

The Trinidad MP then helped Sepp Blatter become Fifa president by vote-rigging the 1998 election. He again substituted Haiti’s delegate for colleague Neville Ferguson to vote for the Swiss. Fifa did nothing.

                                Jack: “Go f**k yourself”

Jack is chairman of Trinidad’s most corrupt political party, The United National Congress (UNC), and frequently makes racist comments like ‘white foreigner‘. Racism is forbidden under Fifa’s code of conduct.

According to his government résumé, Warner has both national and international political interests. Article 5 of Fifa’s Ethics Code demands all officials remain ‘politically neutral‘.

As an MP and a businessman in a real estate and rental property, he breaches Fifa’s ‘conflicts of interest‘ rule.

It goes on to say that Jack has an exceptional knowledge of business practices. Among these are how to rob monies from football; his greatest crime.

                             Jack makes racist remarks

One case was when Fifa gave him approximately £10million to build a centre of excellence in Trinidad.

Although designed to develop football, the Dr. Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence is rarely ever used for sport. Instead the facility hosts functions like the Miss Universe pageant.

Another was when Jack asked the Trinidad government for money to build four new stadiums to stage the 2001 Fifa under-17 World Championship.

They approved despite all four stadia being located minutes away from existing grounds which only needed minor improvements to meet Fifa standards.

Warner’s family-owned Simpaul company supplied travel to all teams at the tournament and he distributed stadium contracts for food and beverage to his son’s restaurant chain.

Jack went back to ticket selling when his country finally made the World Cup in 2006.

A local paper claimed Warner was diverting thousands of tickets through his Simpaul agency and violating Fifa laws by selling them in travel packages.

Fifa’s ethics committee (see p5) found Warner guilty, but let him off when he removed his family name from Simpaul’s list of directors.

                                   Jack gets aggressive

In a friendly with Scotland, Jack tried to get match monies for the TTFF sent to his personal account.

Former Scottish FA president John McBeth said in an interview with BBC Panorama that he and other staff were approached by Warner and asked to write a cheque to him. They refused.

Then came the big fallout. According to the Trinidad players, Warner promised them a 50 per cent share of all World Cup revenue.

After the tournament, documents were lost so expenses could only be estimated. One deduction of one-third of all revenues to ‘prepare the team for the World Cup in 2010′ was never fully clarified and might seem excessive.

The TTFF declared its World Cup earnings at around £1.8million, with half this sum to be given to the players as agreed. However, only about £14,300 (less than £500 per player) was made available.

Goalkeeper Shaka Hislop and 15 other squad members complained they were owed approximately £36,500 each and asked to view the accounts. TTFF refused. The players then asked Fifa to intervene. They also refused.

Warner accused the players of being greedy and holding the Federation to ransom. He blacklisted them from representing the national team, before lifting the ban in 2007.

                           Jack makes insulting comments

Four years on from the 2006 World Cup and the players have still not been paid. Although they won an arbitration in 2008, details of the settlement were published which breach a gag order.

The case is currently being decided in local courts, with the TTFF claiming the players broke the gag order. The players deny this.

But why do Fifa keep letting Jack away with all this? As CONCACAF president, Warner controls a voting bloc of 35 nations which is vital to keeping the Fifa president in power.

Therefore Blatter lets him do what he wants to get these votes at every election. And as long as the Swiss needs Jack’s votes, Warner will continue to use and abuse football.