Aussies want back $2.9m from Jack

Significantly, the September 16, 2010 cheque issued by Travelex Global Business Payments, to a US-dollar Concacaf account at Republic Bank in Port of Spain, does not identify the FFA as the source of funds and was paid by Travelex through correspondent bank, BNY Mellon (Bank of New York) located at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway in Manhattan's Financial District.

The US source, who spoke on condition of strict anonymity, told the Sunday Express that the payment documents associated with the FFA US$462K donation for a Trinidad stadium upgrade and which ended up in Warner's pockets, failed to disclose the FFA's identity as the source of funds.

Australia has spent about US$40 million on its failed bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

The source of funds declaration submitted on the Travelex/Republic Bank transaction erroneously identifies the source of the US$462,200 payment as "sponsorship from Travelex Global Business Payments," according to the source.

The US-dollar CONCACAF bank account which was controlled by the influential Caribbean football jefe and voting member of FIFA, the world governing body for football, was also used by Warner to conduct a slew of private transactions.

The April 18, 2013 CONCACAF Integrity Committee Report which made corrupt conduct findings against Warner, including fraud and misappropriation of money, also spoke about the theft of funds from the FFA.

"On or about September 23, 2010, the FFA provided US$462,200 to Concacaf to support the upgrade of the Marvin Lee Stadium at the Centre of Excellence. These funds were provided through Australia's Football Development Programme in connection with its 2022 FIFA World Cup bid," said the report.

The Sunday Express was told, however, that the Travelex-issued cheque was deposited into the Republic Bank account # 000211059222 on September 23, 2010 although the CONCACAF report talked about an FFA cheque.

The report said this about the transaction: "The funds from the FFA were provided by cheque made out to CONCACAF and deposited into a bank account maintained at Republic Bank, Trinidad."

"The funds, however, were not accounted for in the CONCACAF general ledger or reported as income in its financial statements for 2010. Although the Committee was unable to locate records evidencing how this money was spent, bank records show that Warner commingled his personal funds in the same account to which the FFA payment was deposited," said the Sir David Simmons-led Integrity Committee investigative report which accused Warner of systemic corruption and self-dealing during his 20-year reign of CONCACAF.

Frank Lowy, chairman of the FFA, was not immediately available for comment about the method of payment used by the Australian football association or why the payment documents identify Travelex and not the FFA as the source of funds or why the FFA would ignore Australia's large swathe of rundown stadiums to help Warner out.

And although FIFA's rules disallowed bid committees or any of their associations from giving gifts to FIFA officials or trying to influence the vote in any way, several bidding nations, including Australia, provided expensive gifts to the former high-flying FIFA executive and Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West.

As reported previously by this reporter, Bonita Mersiades, former corporate affairs manager of the FFA turned whistleblower, was instructed to buy a pearl pendant for Warner's wife Maureen after the bid rules were issued by the world football governing body.

"At the time I bought them I sent a note to my boss and to Frank Lowy more or less saying that I felt very uncomfortable buying this necklace at this time as it fell outside the FIFA guidelines. I don't consider a US$2,000 gift to be incidental but the reaction to the note was to be told not to write a note like that again," said Mersiades, in a 2014 interview with the Sunday Express.

Mersiades is among the growing list of prominent nationals to call on the Australian police for a criminal investigation into the theft of FFA's US$462,200 payment to Warner. Nick Xenophon, an Independent senator, has also asked for a police probe.

Following the dramatic arrests in Zurich on Wednesday, he told the Australian media that he has written to US Attorney General Loretta Lynch requesting that the US Department of Justice investigate the FFA payment made to indicted former FIFA official Warner.

"That US$500,000 was meant for upgrading sporting facilities in Trinidad and Tobago, not for Mr Warner's personal use. Australia deserves that money back ASAP," he said.

Lynch, in detailing the US$150 million bribery and corruption scheme involving top football administrators worldwide, argued that: "Bribe money takes soccer fields and balls away from kids in developing countries who were meant to be the recipients of FIFA's marketing and TV revenue."

The Sunday Express was told that shortly after the FFA payment disguised as coming from the European money transfer service, Travelex, Warner received another US$1 million payment in the same Republic Bank account from an entity identified as OAS African Investments Ltd.

The payment was made through a BVI (British Virgin Islands) account with a PO Box address.

There was another substantial BVI deposit, this one from Park House Capital Ltd, Offshore Inc, also for US$1 million, according to the source.

Warner has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has blasted US authorities for what he described as malicious prosecution.

The US indictment which was unsealed on Wednesday revealed the alleged corrupt role Warner played in connection with his positions in FIFA, CONCACAF and myriad other football associations, including the Caribbean Football Union, LOC Germany 2006 Ltd and the national football federation which we reported has more than a $100 million missing in World Cup income.

And as reported in a special investigative series published in this newspaper, Warner used parallel bank accounts in the names of key football bodies to conduct cash raids of football money he controlled in a multitude of bank accounts.

The eight-count indictment against him details allegations of bribery, wire fraud and money laundering over more than two decades.

RELATED NEWS

Jack comes out ‘swinging’
By Renuka Singh (Guardian).

‘The time has come for me to stop being coy...I’ll tell all’

Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner is now a man with “nothing to lose” after spending a night at the Remand Yard prison in Port-of-Spain, on Wednesday. 

Warner, in an interview with the Sunday Guardian, said his direct aim was at Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, even as his past association with football governing body, Fifa, could end up harming his own political career.

Warner has come out of his short prison stint swinging, telling the Sunday Guardian that his loyalty to Persad-Bissessar is over.

“I have nothing to lose anymore,” Warner said.

Warner has been the focus of widespread media reports since the US-based Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) arrested several high-ranking Fifa officials in Zurich, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Fourteen Fifa officials in total were held on corruption charges and criminal proceedings have opened relating to the award of the World Cups in 2018 to Russia and 2022 to Qatar.

Warner said the Prime Minister made “deliberate” attempts to embarrass him since his overnight detention, including reading out the list of charges against him into the Hansard records in Parliament on Wednesday.

“That was deliberate and totally unnecessary. Not once has the Prime Minister shown any reciprocity of the respect I had accorded her and even when I went to Parliament on Friday to add my explanation to the Hansard, I saw a minister trying to tell the House Speaker to shut me up,” Warner said.

“The time has come for me to stop being coy,” Warner said.

Since parting ways with the Government back in 2013 Warner had often threatened to reveal details of the inner workings of the Government under Persad-Bissessar, but always stopped short of actually disclosing the more salacious details he claimed to have on the People’s Partnership. 

When asked why those details were only now being ventilated, Warner said despite the almost two-year fall out with the People’s Partnership, he still felt a sense of “collective responsibility” to the party.

“The Prime Minister, even after I left the Government, I felt no ill-will towards her. I felt that she was surrounded by people who did not have her best interest and she was taking bad advice so she still had my loyalty and my sense of collective responsibility. Now this no longer exists,” he said.

Back in 2013, Warner’s name was at the centre of allegations of financial mismanagement while president of Concacaf and vice-president of Fifa. He had already resigned from all football posts in 2011 amid revelations of a cash-for-votes bribery scandal involving fellow Fifa official Qatari billionaire Mohamed bin Hammam and members of the Caribbean Football Union, which Warner headed.

But while Persad-Bissessar had seemingly turned a deaf ear on previous calls for Warner’s dimissal, she could not ignore the Concacaf Integrity Committee’s detailed report in which Sir David Simmons presented findings with regards to allegations of million-dollar financial mismanagement by Warner and former Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer.

The committee met in Panama and returned with the findings that both Warner and Blazer were “white-collar thieves”. 

Warner believes now that it is his previous hesitation that “lulled” Persad-Bissessar into a false sense of complacency. 

“But I am very prepared to tell all now. In fact I have already handed over several documents to my lawyers and other lawyers that I trust just in case anything happens to me,” he said.

Warner said the reports of threats on his life were real and he had taken those precautionary steps.

Like many of his supporters, Warner is questioning the timing of the international raid and of his own arrest.

“It comes at a time when both Fifa and this country is facing an election and I think it is quite clear that I have been targeted by this Government because all of a sudden they are rushing to comply with the US,” he said.

“They are dancing a jig for a gif, rushing to be complicit with the same US they have been fighting in other extradition matters,” Warner said.

Warner scoffed at Persad-Bissessar’s claim that he did not contribute financially to her campaign.

“I have asked my accountant to pull together the documents; the proof is there,” he said.

Warner said he speaks with his two sons, Daryan and Daryl, every night and despite facing their own legal issues over this same Fifa matter, “they are in good spirits, they are OK.”

PM over Jack's statements: Slanderous and untrue.
By Carolyn Kissoon (Express).

"Slanderous and untrue".

That was how Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday described statements made against her by Independent Liberal Party (ILP) political leader Jack Warner.

And the statements have been placed in the hands of her attorneys, she said.

Persad-Bissessar said the allegations made by Warner at a media conference and on a poiltical platform were defamatory and totally untrue.

She was speaking to reporters at the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) 170th Indian Arrival Day celebrations at Parvati Girls' Hindu College in Debe yesterday.

Persad-Bissessar said, "I did get a copy of what he actually said. I have placed his slanderous statements in the hands of my lawyers, there is absolutely no truth in the words I heard him speak on a press interview and from his platform."

Persad-Bissessar said she was not threatened by Warner's statements as her hands were clean and her heart pure.

"It is in the hands of my lawyers, the statements are totally untrue and go beyond being untrue but slanderous and defamatory. This matter is not about me. The predicament he has found himself in has nothing to do with me and therefore he should concentrate his defence with respect to the matters being brought against him."

She denied ever meeting with any contractor seeking finances for the party's 2010 election campaign.

And she was adamant that Warner did not fund her campaign.

Hear an excerpt from Jack Warner's cottage meeting

"I did not meet with the contractors as he said and ask them for money. I never received any money from Jack Warner. He has now gone on to make another allegation that he was present where I met contractors and said Miss (Stacy) Roopnarine was there and then he said it was after we opened the roads. So how could we be opening a road if we were in campaign for the 2010 election. We can only open a road after the election is completed," she said.

Asked if she was concerned by Warner's threats to release videos against her, Persad-Bissessar said he was simply ranting and raving.

"I am not worried at all. If you recall every single year and even before I became Prime Minsiter the gentleman has threatened. I don't see it as threats, I see them as ranting and raving. He has always threatened about having files. He then comes and says he has no files and now he says he has more files. I am not concerned about those," she said.

Persad-Bissessar also remarked on Warner's statement that the gloves were off, claiming that he will reveal information on her.

She said, "Some people say, but I am not of that view, they agreed that the gloves are off and he may be clearing the way for the handcuffs. I don't agree with that because a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty. He has all of the due process of law to go forward and prove his innocence."

Persad-Bissessar said when there were allegations about corruption among FIFA executives, including Warner, there was no evidence to fire him from the People's Partnership Government.

"But when there was evidence I acted. When the allegations turned into evidence with the David Simmons report I requested and received his resignation. I think I acted in good standing with respect to that matter," she said.

Humiliating the nation
By Martin Daly (T&T Express)

Jack Warner is innocent until proven otherwise.

He is entitled to say one zillion times and more that he is not guilty. But we must be concerned.

This squalid affair, massive and international, is humiliating Trinidad and Tobago.

The allegations against Warner are overwhelming and multifarious.

They are also quite plausible, given long standing allegations of endemic corruption in FIFA. Without good cause, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) would not charge Warner and others with racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud related to bribes and kickbacks stretching back two decades.

Then there is Chuck Blazer, CONCACAF's secretary under Warner who publicly made corruption allegations against Warner, pleading guilty and agreeing to forfeit to the US government about US$1.95 million which he had received in bribes, kickbacks and unauthorised World Cup ticket sales.

Also, as reported in the Express, we have Daryan Warner, Jack's son, pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering and structuring, related to scalping tickets for the 2006 and 2010 World Cups; and another son Daryll, also pleading guilty to wire fraud and structuring in relation to obtaining a mortgage for a Miami condominium.

The report says the Warner sons appear to have provided information to the investigators.

The indictment revealed that whilst involved in FIFA business, Jack sent a relative to Paris to collect "a briefcase containing bundles of US currency in $10,000 stacks in a hotel room", in relation to bidding for the 2010 World Cup. Hours after arriving in Paris, "co-conspirator #14, a member of Warner's family", boarded a return flight and carried the briefcase back to Trinidad and Tobago, "where co-conspirator #14 provided it to Warner." According to the indictment, this was all part of an alleged bribery scheme which saw US$10 million paid to Warner. Very painful questions arise. Who is "co-conspirator #14, a member of Warner's family"? Did a father encourage his sons in criminal activity? The possibility of parental misguidance and irresponsibility is alarming.

We shouldn't also forget that in the case involving then Qatar FIFA executive Mohamed bin Hamman who was accused of bribing CONCACAF officials, the international Court of Arbitration for Sport, said: "Mr Warner appears to be prone to an economy with the truth. He has made numerous statements as to events that are contradicted by other persons, and his own actions are marked by manifest and frequent inconsistency."

And very telling too was the Fifa-appointed Integrity Committee report of Sir David Simmons which alleged that Mr Warner, in his roles as president of CONCACAF and vice president of FIFA, committed fraud against the two football bodies.

In the face of all this, is it fair to Trinidad and Tobago, to have this sordid spectacle of Jack Warner, one night in jail, the next day in the nation's Parliament, trying to shift attention from himself on to the Prime Minister, absurdly claiming it is she who jailed him and that he would have revenge telling 'all' about her?

What is this, a standpipe drama or what? Are we still uncouth villagers of the colonial era? Will we never have civilised norms in this country?

The world is watching. This has been termed the biggest news story in decades. Jack Warner is internationally known, long facing allegations that, as CONCACAF president and Fifa vice-president, he was at the heart of questionable activities in football's governing body. Therefore global eyebrows were raised when he was appointed Minister of National Security, to which Keith Rowley, as Leader of the Opposition, commendably objected, and foreign governments and international observers would have been dumbfounded that Warner acted as prime minister on several occasions. We must have been seen as a most unusual people when this man, ejected from the Cabinet, formed a political party, won the by-election in Chaguanas West and was thereafter lionised by the local media who sought his view on every topic under the sun including integrity and honesty in public life on which he held forth and made headlines over and over again.

Isn't it time to stop this national humiliation? Shouldn't Jack Warner be persuaded, for the country's sake, to stand aside from local politics until his name is cleared? Shouldn't we be spared the disturbing spectacle of Warner as a candidate in the coming elections?

It would be disrespectful to the citizenry and particularly insensitive to the children and young people if this individual, internationally indicted, traverses the nation during an election campaign aspiring to become the country's Prime Minister.

But then this is Trinidad, where swampland politics spreads.

We humiliate our nation.

Karma, boy, karma
By Raffique Shah (T&T Express)

If, in what may be described as normal countries, a week in politics is a long time, in abnormal Trinidad and Tobago, a week can be likened to a lifetime. Last week, most scribes and commentators in the media engaged in heated exchanges over the latest bacchanal in the Integrity Commission.

Today, few remember what that furore was about or who the protagonists were.

The arrest, overnight jailing and legal action to have Jack Warner extradited to the US to face multiple fraud-related charges have, like a tornado, flattened and re-shaped the political landscape in a very fundamental way.

It's not that those who closely monitor politics and corruption (some might argue that that's redundancy) were taken unawares by the US Justice Department dragnet that spread from tiny T&T to shiny Switzerland last Wednesday, netting some very big fishes.

In fact, several investigative journalists-notably Mark Bassant and Lasana Liburd in Trinidad and Andrew Jennings in the UK-had all but written the script for the Mafia-style swoop that made headlines across the world.

In our case, though, Jack-in-the-box had an almost shattering impact.

Here was a man who straddled the country like a colossus, a veritable Prime Minister, albeit acting, a powerful Minister of National Security, and before that an emperor overseeing the Ministry of Works, being carted off to prison like a two-bit thief.

Until he resigned from Kamla Persad-Bissessar's Cabinet in 2013 (note well, he was not dismissed), he was seen as the most powerful person in the PP Government, some say even more powerful than the PM herself.

Never forget that on victory night in 2010, when she savoured the fist sip of power, before thanking God or the people or anyone else, Kamla thanked Jack not once or twice, but thrice.

I always wondered about that: did she thank him for conducting a campaign unparalleled in the nation's history?

Was it some obeah he performed that delivered an overwhelming victory?

Or was he pivotal to raising the tens of millions of dollars that the PP spent, money that flowed like water during that campaign and ever since?

We may never know the truth.

The Prime Minister remains estranged from it too often for us to believe her, and Warner's threats to "reveal all" remain hollow: not tonight, not any night.

What we do know as fact is that Warner's rags-to-riches story is a very curious one, and allegations of irregularities against him pre-date his entry into politics.

From as far back as 1973, when T&T's star-studded football team flogged Haiti on the field for a place in the 1974 World Cup finals, but lost the match through two officials who were later banned for life, the TTFA executive, on which Jack sat, did not file a protest.

And if that could be written off as a fluke, what of the fiasco of 1989 when, even if we had beaten the USA on the field, we risked being disqualified because of a dangerously overcrowded stadium and the vulgar over-selling of tickets for the game?

All of these misdemeanours took place before Jack and Basdeo Panday became tight as...'er, bosom buddies, and the latter plucked him from the murky fields of football and elevated him to the murkier arena of politics.

We know what followed: a safe UNC seat, riding partners on a FIFA executive jet to South Africa supposedly to have Nelson Mandela endorse the UNC (he did not), money flowing like water in a losing effort in the 2007 elections, and, as always happened with anyone who got close to Panday, estrangement, fight, cuss, break-up.

We also know the sequel, the making of Kamla, the joining of forces in 2010 that brought together my one-time comrades in labour and back-in-time brothers of the Black Power movement embracing so tightly, not even dollar notes could come between them.

There was one big, happy Fyzabad family that promised to deliver the nation from all evils-except that that never happened.

When things started falling apart, Jack still found refuge in the House of the Rising Sun ("...it's been the ruin of many a man...").

2011: US dollars being parcelled and shared like "parsad" at the Hyatt: bring me the evidence.

Soca Warriors players denied their bonuses from 2006: let the court decide.

Australia football body asking for accountability for half-a-million-dollar donation: deafening silence.

More dollars for earthquake-stricken Haiti disappear: dem reporters wicked.

But there is something called "karma", not to be mistaken for Kamla, which strangers to Hindi might find confusing.

Today, Jack is being called to account, and although the process between indictment, extradition, trial and a cell in some US jail is lengthy, it's almost ineluctable.

Strangely, I feel sorry him even though I've never met the man.

I guess it's because I know what prison is, which is why I've always counselled those who walk on the wayward side to "make jail when yuh young".

But Jack will not be the only person who, having supped with him, will pay the Devil. Others who portray themselves as pious even as they raid the Treasury, will also pay. Karma, boy, Karma.

Jack Be Nimble
By Orville Taylor (Jamaica Gleaner)

"FIFA fo fum! I smell the blood of a Trini Man." It is another epic fairy tale but it is literally going to be a Grimm brothers' story that doesn't look like it is going to have a happy ending. Like a long African river, our beloved football icon of CONCACAF, Austin 'Jack' Warner, has lived in denial about his involvement in any shady deal regarding football.

A few years ago, when anchor of football Jamaica, Captain Horace Burrell, dodged the bullet and escaped with a slap on the wrist over improper payments, Warner brushed off all aspersions. Warner was defiant, and, although no spring chicken himself, even found time to throw a jab at former prime minister and president of the Premier League Clubs Association, Edward Seaga. His dinosaur reference, though uncharitable, was all the stranger because I have known of Warner since I was in university, and he was no boy even then.

Warner seemed to have developed a reputation for untouchability, and a few labelled him the 'Teflon Don'.

Reality is now hitting him in his face like a shot from Messi or Kaka, but he has to finally face the referee and possibly give up a penalty before the fans. On Wednesday, reports surfaced that Swiss police had arrested a number of FIFA officials. Looking rather surreptitious, all were in that country and apparently at the most convenient time for their arrest and charge.

FLATFOOTED

As the newsrooms reeled under the information, the offices of CONCACAF in South Florida were being raided. American representatives to CONCACAF were carted away and rumours surfaced about the arrest of Warner, after his successor was named among those nabbed in Switzerland. Of course, being in Trinidad at the time, Warner rebuffed the report and said that he had walked away from football more than four years earlier and was dedicating himself fully to his political career and service to the people of his country.

Yet within hours, the don was flatfooted by revelations that his own two sons had already squealed like two pigs in a poke and delivered sealed confessions to the American authorities from as far back as 2013. If ignorance is bliss, the incredulity of Warner as he stuttered in surprise must have debunked this old adage.

Before he regained his fluency, proceedings were long begun in pursuance of an extradition request from the American government. Doubtless he was totally innocent until proven guilty, but his claim of being oblivious rings like an "I can't recall" a few years ago, when another West Indies party, sharing similar lettering, as his Independent Liberal Party (ILP), was faced with the extradition of another don.

Hours later, Warner had posted bail, as the Kamla Persad-Bissessar government seemed not to have any intention of delaying or seeking the assistance of any American law firm to thwart proceedings. Truly, man hath a short time before he faces final judgement.

Now, we know that Warner did have associates in Jamaica and those of us who like local pastry are keeping our fingers crossed that nothing untoward is going to arise from the dough we have here. Our nationalism is not simply capped in half-baked accusations and kickbacks.

Nonetheless, a question that arose in the debacle which ended with the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, a few years ago, was, "How come America can charge and get extradition for a person who has not committed a crime on American soil?" The explanation is simple: The US Congress has passed laws that allow it to have jurisdiction outside of its borders, as long as it can be remotely shown that what it defines as a crime (whether or not defined as a crime elsewhere) has had some impact on that society.

SOBERING LESSON

Thus, Coke had been accused of shipping drugs into the United States, a crime to which he confessed. With the increase in the global movement of capital, the US has enacted more legislation to protect its financial borders, and where there is any portion of what it deems as ill-gotten gains, passing through its financial system. Hence, where kickbacks and other inducements for corruption are channelled through American banks, it triggers all of the powers under the legislation and Uncle Sam can send for whomever it considers to be perpetrators.

This is the sobering lesson for us all on this little piece of rock. It might be strange that the United States, which narcissistically plays its World Series of baseball among a number of teams from within its borders, and has its World Champions of basketball and its own version of football, has an interest in a global sport. Indeed, soccer is a growing sport in the USA but it is still a relatively minor sport there.

WELL OR POORLY TIMED?

One can only speculate why the investigation, which reportedly began years ago, has triggered arrests on the eve of the FIFA election in which Sepp Blatter is seeking another term as president - to hold on to the reins of the largest global sport body in the world. It is also well or poorly timed, depending on one's perspective, that it is leading up to the election period in Trinidad and Tobago.

Has anyone here thought that the Jamaican election is due in just over 18 months? So, in all of this furore as we focus on Warner, Blatter and others in this FIFAgate, I am wondering if any money, such as payments for the award of contracts to international bidders, clandestine campaign contributions, or any other improper monies, might have at any point found its way to or passed through the American banking system. Wouldn't it be interesting if any of the FINSAC money from the mid-1990s got mixed up with the red, white and blue?

Let the chips fall and see who is able to successfully jump over the candlestick.