It was in late April 2000 that Jack Warner arrived in England from Trinidad for his latest visit to see his friends at the Football Association and enjoy their hospitality, as England’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup moved up a gear.
Dwight Yorke opened the scoring. Dan Petrescu and Gianfranco Zola put Chelsea ahead. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Yorke sealed the three points.
Warner, then 57, flew back south for a government dinner in his honour hosted by Chris Smith, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
It was a lavish occasion in private rooms at the Tower of London. The FA then laid on a helicopter for Warner, who hopped aboard with Sports Minister Tony Banks and took a sightseeing trip across the capital, landing at Wembley for an exclusive look at the FA’s plans for the new stadium.
An official FA report later spoke of the ‘warm relations’ by then established between Warner and FA chairman Geoff Thompson.
So warm, in fact, that the very same trip, the FA said, ‘resulted in the signing and issue of a declaration of intent under which the FA, over a five-year period, would extend further help with the development of football in the Caribbean and Central America’.
The precise cost of this initiative is not public, nor have the FA been able to put a figure on it. It is not itemised in FA accounts. It is estimated at somewhere between hundreds of thousands of pounds and low millions.
It is not believed to have involved straight cash handouts, although cash was spent on various sponsorship and functions for Warner’s pet projects back then and over many years since.
Such largesse from the FA can be interpreted in several ways. At one extreme it is altruistic development funding for a needy part of the global game. At the other it is bribery.
The truth is almost certainly found in the grey middle ground, where support and rewards in football politics have for so long gone hand in hand.
Another episode of FA ‘charity’ now seems likely to come back to bite them — the writing-off of a £135,000 debt owed to the FA by friends of Warner at the Jamaica FA.
Negotiations for that write-off of a 2006 debt intensified in 2008 at exactly the same time Warner sought another favour from the FA as they prepared to bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
Warner wanted England to play a friendly in Trinidad against his national team, ostensibly to help celebrate the centenary of the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation.
It went ahead and the TTFF earned six-figure sums from ticket sales and more from TV rights for a game in which England were captained by David Beckham. Warner paraded Beckham around the pitch, basking in the reflected glory.
The Jamaican FA were run by Warner’s close friend Horace Burrell, and the issue of the £135,000 was ‘kicked into the long grass’, sources say, because to have written it off then might have looked like a sweetener to please Warner. Burrell always maintained it was written off in 2008.
The Mail on Sunday has established it was finally, secretly written off by the FA in early 2012, although it is not mentioned in the accounts.
Warner is now wanted by the authorities in the USA on a variety of corruption charges. He plans to fight extradition from Trinidad but had to surrender his passport at his local police station last week.
As and when he is forced to go to America and starts talking to investigators, it is considered likely he could share everything he knows about football’s favour culture. The £135,000 deal will inevitably come up.
One former high-ranking FA insider told the MoS: ‘I know the FBI are going to come after us. It’s just a matter of time.’
Another FA source, still working at Wembley, expects the issue to be ‘an embarrassment to the FA rather than a major problem’.
The reality is that Warner has been receiving favours from the FA for almost two decades, and for much of that period the FA regarded him as an ally, even a confidant and sounding board.
Certainly he was seen that way when England were bidding for 2006, and the FA made sure he felt he was valued.
In January 2000, they paid for England manager Kevin Keegan to attend a coaching seminar in Trinidad and meet CONCACAF officials.
The following month, England’s 2006 bid leader, Alex McGivan, took Sir Bobby Charlton to meet CONCACAF officials at the Gold Cup in Los Angeles.
The same month Tony Banks was ordered at short notice to go to Trinidad, where Prince Charles was paying an official visit, to make sure His Royal Highness spent time with Warner and his friends.
Warner had previously been to Prince Charles’s Highgrove House home in Gloucestershire on a trip arranged by the FA.
Using royalty and even Prime Ministers to flatter and influence FIFA officials has become par for the course.
Five years ago, England notoriously sent Charles’s son William as well as David Cameron and Beckham to glad-hand members of FIFA’s executive in Zurich before they voted on the 2018 World Cup.
Infamously, a number of voters told them to their face they would support England and then betrayed their vows. Such is football politics.
In 2000, while Warner was in England on his chopper visit, Sir Geoff Hurst was simultaneously sent on a trip to four Caribbean Islands to meet Warner allies.
The FA reported later: ‘Football leaders there were greatly appreciative of Sir Geoff’s visit but made plain their needs for developmental help.’
In May 2000, England’s bid team asked the British ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, to visit New York and lobby Warner’s closest ally on FIFA’s executive, Chuck Blazer.
The American has already cut a deal with the FBI and pleaded guilty over his role in the current corruption case.
The same month England’s 2006 bid team were involved in ‘heavy branding and sponsorship’ of a CONCACAF meeting in Nassau.
Another unspecified sum was spent on arranging a dinner, with Garth Crooks as compere and Charlton, Hurst and John Barnes among the speakers. Warner and FIFA president Sepp Blatter were the main guests.
Paying for Warner’s supper became a habit of the FA. When the FA were bidding for the 2018 World Cup, they sponsored a $55,000 (£35,000) gala dinner for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) which the summary of Michael Garcia’s FIFA corruption probe said was to ‘curry favour’ with Warner.
The same report said England’s bid team ‘often accommodated Mr Warner’s wishes in apparent violation of bidding rules and the FIFA Code of Ethics.’
Other examples cited included helping a friend of Warner with a job opportunity in the UK, helping for unspecified favours related to a club he owned in Trinidad and hosting a training camp for the TTFF Under-20s in England in 2009.
Bid sources at the time and now insist they did nothing wrong in the course of courting the votes of Warner and other delegates and say such behaviour was standard practice and within the rules.
They also rightly point out that when Garcia went looking for evidence of corruption in the Russian and Spanish bids for 2018 he was given no access to information or any help; yet on that basis they were effectively deemed clean.
One lesson might be that if you are going to be chummy with somebody long established as corrupt, you should do it discreetly. The FA may yet live to rue cosying up to Jack Warner so much for so long.
RELATED NEWS
The empire that Jack built.
By Suzanne Sheppard (Guardian)
Jack’s million$: Guardian probes under-fire ILP leader’s assets
In recent days, investigative news reports have estimated Warner’s wealth to be approximately $1 billion. However, it is difficult to gauge the full extent of his fortune since assets are scattered across a very diverse range of business operations, as well as several local and overseas bank accounts.
He is a former schoolteacher whose ascent to positions of power in world football and T&T politics began when he became secretary of the T&T Football Association in 1973.
Austin “Jack” Warner rose from humble beginnings in Rio Claro in south Trinidad, to become president of Concacaf, vice president of Fifa, as well as a senior cabinet minister in the People’s Partnership (PP) administration of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Along the way, he also developed a large family-owned business empire, with establishments across T&T.
there are various ventures, many of them very lucrative, in which Warner, his wife Maureen, and their two sons Darryl and Daryan are listed as directors and majority stakeholders. The Warner family has been under intense scrutiny ever since their patriarch was indicted on May 27 by the US Department of Justice for a series of offences including racketeering, fraud and money laundering. He has also been placed on a wanted persons list by Interpol.
The Independent Liberal Party (ILP) political leader and Chaguanas West MP is currently out on bail, fighting attempts to have him extradited to the United States to face charges. Warner’s two sons have already pleaded guilty to corruption charges and are co-operating with United States investigators. Daryan agreed to forfeit more than US$1.1 million as part of his plea bargain on charges of wire fraud, money laundering and evading financial reporting laws.
Never a stranger to controversy, Warner’s wealth increased as he gained more influence and higher administrative positions within the governing body for football. In 2011, at the time when he parted company with Fifa, Warner’s wealth had been estimated at US$50 million. He and his family reportedly own or have significant stakes in a large number of businesses, ranging from security firms to catering, janitorial services and publishing, as well as vast real estate holdings.
Here are the Jack Warner holdings that we were able to verify:
The Centre of Excellence
Said to be worth US$2.5 million, the multi-purpose facility is currently the subject of a legal dispute between Warner and Fifa. Warner has denied the football organisation’s claim that the facility, which is located in Macoya, was signed over to his family. However, documents obtained by the T&T Guardian in 2013 showed that it is jointly owned by two companies—CCAM and Company Ltd and Renraw Investments Ltd—both part of the Warner family’s business empire. Renraw is “Warner” spelt backwards.
Fifa said it has taken legal steps to recover the ownership of the centre which was a gift from its Brazil-born former president Joao Havelange to the Caribbean Football Union.
Originally intended to be a state-of-the-art training and learning facility for use by Concacaf members, the Centre of Excellence includes the 6,000-seat Marvin Lee Stadium with a full-sized practice field and two mini-fields; the Ken Galt Hall which can accommodate a maximum of 800 people; the Joseph Sepp Blatter Hall with a capacity of 2,000; the Nelson Mandela Room; Le Sportel Inn, which has 44 rooms; Garden Sanctuary; Guillermo Canedo Hall which accommodates a maximum of 6,500; and the Andre Kamperveen Hall.
Simpaul Travel Services Ltd
Established by Warner and his wife, Maureen, in 1997, the company has its main offices at St Vincent Street in Port-of-Spain. Its motto is: We are not a travel agency that does football, we are a football company that happens to work in the travel industry.
The agency secured all of the travel business of the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) during the time when Warner was special adviser to the local football body and his associates, Oliver Camps and Richard Groden, were top TTFF officials. Groden secured Simpaul’s credentials with Fifa’s Ticketing Office (FTO) by naming the agency as the official tour operator of the TTFF.
The agency first came into the spotlight following T&T’s qualification for the 2006 World Cup in Germany when it was investigated by Fifa. According to reports, starting in June 2005, the travel agency was used to sell thousands of World Cup packages of rooms and tickets to agents around the world.
It was further alleged that Warner and his son Daryan, who is listed as managing director of Simpaul, cleared a profit of at least £500,000 on 5,400 tickets for England, Mexico and Japan World Cup matches. However, Warner was subsequently cleared of those allegations by Fifa’s Ethics Committee.
The agency later surfaced in another football controversy when former Fifa presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam, in defence of charges brought against him by Fifa’s Ethics Committee, claimed he transferred $2.3 million to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) to cover travelling and accommodation expenses of delegates at a two-day CFU meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain. The travelling expenses and bookings were done via Simpaul.
Concacaf’s T&T offices
Among Warner’s many real estate assets in Port-of-Spain is the office building on St Vincent Street, which houses the local operations of Concacaf. The regional football body reportedly pays him nearly US$750,000 a year in rent for that office space.
Emerald Apartments and Plaza
In 1998, the Warner family purchased the Scarlet Ibis Hotel in St Augustine for $6 million and transformed the aging six-storey hotel into elegantly appointed two and three-bedroom apartments and penthouses. Company records show the facility as being run by Warner’s elder son, Daryl.
Kantac Plaza
Located at 131 Eastern Main Road in Warner’s hometown, Arouca, it houses several businesses including the offices of Sunshine Newspaper and Joe Public Football Club.
Joe Public FC
Jack Warner is listed as owner of the popular football club with Darryl as managing director and Vijay Bahgan and Sam Phillips as directors.
Take it to the FBI.
By Anna Ramdass (Express).
In dismissing allegations by Jack Warner that he was involved in covering up marijuana found at her private residence two years ago, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday challenged Warner to take his information to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local police.
“More lies and distractions which I have placed in the hands of my lawyers, should Mr Warner have any information about any wrong doing he should take it to the police and the FBI,” the Prime Minister told the Express.
Warner submitted a statement dated June 6, 2015 to Justice of the Peace Anthony Soulette in which he claimed that on Friday April 12, 2013, former deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson came to the Parliament and informed him (Warner) that a packet containing four ounces of marijuana was found outside a window of Persad-Bissessar's private Phillipine residence.
Warner, who was National Security Minister at the time, stated that he called Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal who advised him to contact the Prime Minister who was in New York at the time.
Warner claimed when he contacted the Prime Minister, she was surprised and enquired whether she should return home immediately and resign.
He claimed further that he advised Persad-Bissessar to not resign as he and others- Richardson, Moonilal as well as former national security adviser Gary Griffith - would cover up the ganja find.
Allegations untrue
Legal sources close to the Prime Minister said that Warner's allegations were untrue because Persad-Bissessar was never out of the country when the marijuana was allegedly found at the house.
The Express checked the archives which show that Persad-Bissessar left Trinidad on April 14, 2013, for New York where she was scheduled to address the United Nations on Monday June 15 on “The UN and Global Economic Governance”.
A release from the Office of the Prime Minister was issued to the media giving notice of Persad-Bissessar's departure.
The Express was told by officials close to the PM that Warner's allegations were confusing as they questioned how the Prime Minister could say she should return home and resign when she was in the country.
It was also pointed out that the Prime Minister accepted Warner's resignation on April 20, 2013 – following a report from Sir David Simmons who headed FIFA's Ethics Committee which stated Warner was involved in financial impropriety- days after his alleged cover up of the marijuana find.
This is the third set of allegations that Warner has revealed after declaring on May 28, 2015, that “the gloves are off” and he intends to go after Persad-Bissessar and expose her and members of the People's Partnership Government.
“Kamla, having jailed me…as of tonight, the gloves are off!” Warner had said hours after he was released from prison where he was forced to spend the night due to problems in securing his $2.5 million bail.
Following his threat, on June 4, 2015, Warner claimed there was a link between the funding of the People's Partnership 2010 campaign and FIFA and he was going to put this in a dossier of documents to give to local and foreign authorities through attorneys.
Via his Sunshine newspaper, Warner has published cheques amounting to $1.7 million that was paid to Ross Advertising. A week later Warner published cheques amounting to some $56,000 allegedly paid to a realtor to rent a house in Santa Margarita for Persad-Bissessar and her sister Vidwatie during the 2010 campaign as Warner claimed Persad-Bissessar complained of being tired.
The Prime Minister has to date denied all of Warner's allegations saying she never received any funding from him and his statements were false and meant to distract.
“The Express story is a smokescreen, the real story is Loretta Lync,” said Moonilal yesterday, adding that Warner keeps evading the issues hanging over his own head.
Warner is wanted by the United States authorities for charges of money laundering, fraud and racketeering. He is also listed on Interpol's most wanted list. Warner intends to fight extradition requests and is moving full steam ahead to lead his Independent Liberal Party (ILP) to contest the September 7 general election.
Persad-Bissessar has already signalled to party members to not be distracted by Warner's stories.
The Prime Minister will be delivering the feature address today at the United National Congress (UNC) meeting at Rienzi Complex, Couva at 7p.m.
Ganja found at PM's home...and we hid it
By Denyse Renne (Express).
SMOKEOUT
Former national security minister Jack Warner has admitted he and former deputy commissioner of police Mervyn Richardson were part of a plan to bury the alleged discovery of marijuana at the Phillipine home of the Prime Minister on April 12, 2013.
The Prime Minister was in New York, USA, at the time.
Warner also named Gary Griffith, then adviser to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal as being part of the plan to ensure there was no criminal probe into the alleged marijuana discovery.
Richardson, when contacted yesterday morning by the Sunday Express, refused to comment on the allegation made against him by the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader and Chaguanas West MP.
In a statement dated June 6, 2015, submitted to Justice of the Peace Anthony Soulette, who stamped and signed it, Warner outlined how Richardson came to Parliament and told him about the alleged drug find.
Warner's statement forms part of a dossier of documents and taped conversations he has promised to deliver to selected attorneys for safe keeping to expose corruption in the Government.
Warner is currently on bail and will re-appear at the Port of Spain Magistrates' Court on July 9. He has indicated he will be contesting any request by the US to have him extradited to answer charges of racketeering and money laundering.
The indictment against Warner follows four years of investigations by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) authorities into allegations of “rampant and systemic” corruption and rich self-dealing by FIFA officials.
On June 3, the US requested, through Interpol, that Warner and five other officials be placed on “red notice”.
Richardson retired from the Police Service in November 2013 and has been retained by the National Operations Centre as its strategic co-ordinator of Multi-Agency Co-ordinating Group. He has had his leave bought out on two occasions by the Government.
While in the Police Service, he headed several high-profile investigations, among them Emailgate.
The Sunday Express asked Richardson yesterday:
Mr Richardson, it is our information that you went to Parliament while it was in process on April 12, 2013, and met with Warner, where you informed him that four ounces of marijuana had been found outside a window of the PM's Phillipine home.
Richardson: I wouldn't comment on that.
Sunday Express: Do you recall that happening?
Richardson: I wouldn't be commenting on those matters.
Sunday Express: Is it that it didn't happen or you can't remember?
Richardson: Ms Renne, I said I will not be commenting on those matters.
Sunday Express: Shortly after this discovery, you left the service and were placed in charge of the Rapid Response Unit. Were you part of a cover-up, and this position your payment?
Richardson: Ms Renne, I would not be commenting on those matters. Have a great day.
On Friday evening, the Sunday Express was shown a copy of the police diary entry, which stated 113 grammes of marijuana were found on the Philippine premises around 7 a.m. on April 12, 2013, during a routine patrol.
Warner, in his statement to the JP, said Richardson came to Parliament on April 12, 2013, while a sitting was in progress and they went into a private room at the Parliament.
He said, “The DCP informed me that the PM's security officers at her residence in Phillipine had found that morning a packet containing 4 ozs of marijuana outside a window of the PM's Phillipine home, and according to DCP Richardson, based in the amount it can be for the purpose of trafficking”.
Warner said he was told by Richardson that Snr Supt of Special Branch Gary Gould was in charge of the Prime Minister's detail and he (Richardson) would speak to Gould.
“I immediately called Dr Roodal Moonilal, Leader of Government Business, from the Parliament and asked him how we should deal with this matter,” Warner wrote.
Moonilal advised that the Prime Minister be called and told what occurred since she was in New York at the time, according to Warner.
Warner said he did so and “the PM seemed surprised and said that she should return home immediately and asked whether she should return home and resign”.
“She then spoke with DCP Richardson, who again informed her of what he had told me.
“I prevailed upon her not to resign, but that we (Moonilal, Richardson, Captain Gary Griffith, who had been informed, and I) would use our best efforts to bury it and up to today we did.”
Contacted last Friday by the Sunday Express, Warner said he would not comment at this time, except to say, “I will be revealing more at my meeting on Thursday night. I promised the PM, the gloves are off.”
Countless calls to Persad-Bissessar and Moonilal on Friday and yesterday, as well as several text messages seeking a comment, went unanswered.
The Sunday Express also contacted press officer Francis Joseph, who said he would try to obtain a response from Persad-Bissessar, but up to press time last night there was no response.
The questions posed to the Prime Minister:
• Good morning Mrs Persad-Bissessar. I am writing an article for tomorrow's paper and would like a comment from you. On or around April 2013, four ounces of marijuana were found at your Phillipine home. Can you confirm or deny?
• Did Mr Mervyn Richardson have a conversation with you regarding this find?
Special Branch head: Richardson didn't tell me anything
The Sunday Express contacted Gary Gould yesterday morning. Gould is currently a DCP and also the deputy head at Special Branch.
Asked whether he knew about the find at the Prime Minister's residence in April 2013, Gould said, “I'm not aware of this.”
Quizzed on whether Richardson relayed this information to him, Gould said no.
Asked whether he was sure Richardson never informed him of the find, given that he (Gould) headed the Special Branch at the time, Gould said, “Something like that, I would have remembered being told to me.”
The Sunday Express asked whether it was mandatory such a report should have come to him. Gould say yes.
Contacted yesterday morning, acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams said he needed an opportunity to look into the matter.
“I have to look at the records of 2013 and I have no access to those records now. I'm sure if it's Special Branch, there would be records,” Williams said.
Griffith responds: Ask the police
In an e-mailed response sent yesterday evening, Gary Griffith refused to confirm or deny he was privy to the alleged incident.
He instead told the Sunday Express to check with the police.
He said when he operated as a minister of National Security, “I am obliged to still stress that it would be inappropriate to make any statement on any such allegation.
“Based on this report, it would be the police who should comment on this allegation. Having said that, let me make it abundantly clear it is impossible for any Government official to give any police officer an order to cover up any matter that warrants a police investigation or a possible charge for someone committing a criminal offence. They have no authority to do so.
“The Police Service comes under the Ministry of National Security for administration, policy and logistics support services.
“It is not in any remote way under the authority of Government officials, inclusive of National Security, National Security Council or Office of the Prime Minister, for operational purposes, which includes investigations and reporting a crime.
“For any further information reference the above, the T&T Police Service is the best avenue to answer any further questions.”
Edited text of the statement by Jack Warner
My name is Jack Austin Warner.
I was elected to Parliament on May 24, 2010, for the Chaguanas West constituency, copping the highest number of votes for any one candidate in that election.
On June 1, 2010, I was appointed Minister of Works and Transport, and later Minister of Works and Infrastructure.
On June 25, 2012, I was appointed Minister of National Security, a post from which I resigned on April 20, 2013. Prior to this, I had acted as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago on no less than four occasions. In fact, I was the first minister to be appointed by the Prime Minister to act for her when she had to travel in August 2010.
As Minister of National Security, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service was one of the agencies under my portfolio.
On Friday, April 12, 2013, DCP Mervyn Richardson came to Parliament (where sitting was in progress) and called me out. We went to a private room in the Parliament, where the DCP informed me that the PM's security officers at her residence in Philippine had found that morning a packet containing 4 ozs of marijuana outside a window of the Prime Minister's Philippine home, and according to DCP Richardson, based on the amount, it can be for the purpose of trafficking.
DCP Richardson also advised me that Senior Superintendent Special Branch Gary Gould was in charge of the Prime Minister's security detail and that he would speak to him.
I immediately called Dr Roodal Moonilal, Leader of Government Business, from the Parliament and asked him how we should deal with this matter.
He suggested that I should immediately call the Prime Minister overseas in New York and inform her, which I did.
The Prime Minister seemed surprised and said that she will return home immediately and asked whether she should return home and resign.
She then spoke with DCP Richardson, who again informed her of what he had told me. I prevailed upon her not to resign, but that instead we (Moonilal, Richardson, Captain Gary Griffith, who had been informed, and I) would use our best efforts to bury it, and up to today we did.
All of the above can be easily corroborated in the following ways:
1. By seeking the advice of Senior Superintendent Gary Gould, Head of the Special Branch;
2. By inspecting the police diary for the morning of April 12, 2013;
3. By seeking the advice on the matter from DCP Mervyn Richardson and Captain Gary Griffith. Consistent with his current behaviour, it will serve no useful purpose to interview Dr Moonilal;
4. TSTT (Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago) or DCP should be able to produce pictures of the marijuana which picture Richardson had on his mobile phone.
Respectfully submitted,
Jack Warner
Member of Parliament
Chaguanas West Constituency
June 6, 2015.