Tim Kee defends Warner’s CONCACAF tenure

Tim Kee, who returned from representing the TTFA at the world governing body’s elections in Zurich, Switzerland, on Saturday night, believes Warner was a major voice pushing for TT’s football development on both the regional and international stage during his reign. However, when Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Island s was appointed president of CONCACAF in 2012, things changed, and TT’s affairs were put on the bench by the provisionally sacked CONCACAF boss. 

“Remember when Mr Warner was president of CONCACAF and CFU, he was very much inward thinking in terms of what Trinidad is getting into,” said Tim Kee yesterday. “Warner worked so hard to the point where our funny kind of thinking people felt that he was pulling strings for Trinidad’s benefit. All the rumours about Warner setting up matches for Trinidad to win and other ideas of the sort all of a sudden began to circulate. 

“However, what Mr Warner was really doing was looking after Trinidad and trying to put Trinidad and Tobago in a position to have an equal chance because he would have known of course (about) where he sat, how many things were available and how many were not. Everything came and happened and he was then replaced by another Caribbean man, Jeffrey Webb,” Tim Kee added. 

It was here, according to the TTFA boss, that Webb then began to redirect his attention toward more development in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Tim Kee said when he realised this country was not given any priority, he challenged the decisions being made but was told that “Trinidad must breathe a little.” 

“It was not as equitable as it could have been (for TT). But the others (governing bodies) who were given opportunities to breathe, were not in a position to breathe either because they did not have any actual resource.

What I realised is that we were not getting a fair break as we would have liked for Trinidad,” he continued. 

Now, with both Warner and Webb removed from their respective capacities in regional football and currently under investigation for racketeering and money laundering by the United States Department of Justice, Tim Kee is hoping to once again bring the Caribbean nations together in an effort to return transparency and strong sport development to the region. Following his vote in Zurich on Friday, Tim Kee conversed with several of the region’s association presidents with the intention of strengthening their voice on a global scale. 

He also warned that the US, along with Central America, have been trying from behind the scenes to control CONCACAF. But, Tim Kee is intent on ensuring that his and the Caribbean’s voice are constantly heard. The Port-of-Spain mayor admitted however, that wooing the other regional territories to one sound conclusion might be a bit tougher than expected. 

He further explained: “The position is that I’ve had some conversations with some president’s (football bodies) from the Caribbean. 

I told them what my picture is of the situation and that we need to get our act together and so on. But you see a lot of them are intimidated because they got a lot of, what they consider favours and therefore they don’t want to rock the boat. And to a large extent not only in the Caribbean, but as well as the American and African continents.” 

Speaking in relation to Blatter’s re-election for a fifth consecutive term, Tim Kee declared that the audience of Hallenstadion, Zurich, went silent upon hearing Prince Ali’s withdrawal from the second round of voting at the elections after being behind 133-72 in the initial round. 

“You could have felt a sense of sadness (when Ali withdrew). Those who supported the incumbent (Blatter) were in glee. But you would have looked around the room at the 209 countries, each of which was represented by three delegates, and of course maybe about 100 observers, you would have sensed some form of quiet and sadness. It was then that I had a little bit of concern.. Ali and I have a good relationship and he calls me often. I was unable to speak to him after the elections, but I might speak with him tonight (Sunday). If there was some other candidate, or rather if Mr Blatter was not there, I’m sure Prince Ali would have won because nobody could have faulted him for his presentation and constitution,” he added. 

Meanwhile, amidst all the allegations put forward against multiple ex and current members of FIFA last week, Blatter maintains his innocence and admitted that the cleanup of FIFA is good for the game. When asked how Blatter could have pleaded ignorance of the alleged corruption taking place in his organisation, Tim Kee declared: “If the top US and Swiss agencies working together, and they have been digging up for the past 20 years, have found nothing, possibly, there is nothing to be found but I do not want be conclusive and unfair to Mr Blatter. But how so many calls and comments could be made and there’s no truth? You have to sometimes consider the saying ‘where there is smoke, there is fire’. So how is there so much smoke, but no fire?”

RELATED NEWS

What would happen if Europe, U.S. and Argentina boycott the World Cup?
By Ronald Blum, The Associated Press 

NEW YORK -- What would happen if Sepp Blatter hosts a World Cup and most of Europe, several South American powers and the United States don't show up?

Blatter was voted to a fifth term as FIFA president on Friday, but the governing bodies of soccer's wealthiest region, the world's biggest economy and several nations in soccer-crazed South America opposed him following a string of scandals.

As the 79-year-old was celebrating defeating Jordan's Prince Ali bin al-Hussein 133-73 for another four-year term, his opposition was figuring out how to pressure him for change.

The Union of European Football Associations could threaten what's become known as soccer's nuclear option: prominent nations breaking away and holding their own tournament, call it a Clean Cup. At FIFA's World Cup qualifying draw on July 25 in St. Petersburg, Russia, there could be scores of empty seats in the Constantine Palace.

"Blatter's supporters are Vladimir Putin, the invader; the Qatari government and their supposed slave employees to build the facilities; and about 80 or 90 tiny countries that he has given each one a vote and a ton of money to," said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based consulting firm SportsCorp.

"He needs to be careful not to overplay his hand," Ganis said. "He was given an opportunity to do what he said, which is reform FIFA. If he uses that opportunity to extract retribution against those who are opposed to him, he's setting up a confrontation that if it goes all the way to the end, he can't win. He's never demonstrated that level of ignorance, so I don't expect that he will do so."

With a one-nation, one-vote system, Blatter has support of a majority of FIFA's 209 nations. But most of the world's best clubs, the strongest economies and the most lucrative television audiences are in countries that want Blatter out

FIFA's $5.72 billion in revenue from 2011-14 included $4.23 billion from last year's World Cup in Brazil -- of which $2.43 billion was generated by television rights sales and $1.58 billion from marketing agreements.

The majority of FIFA's money came from deals in Europe and the United States, where governments -- other than Russia -- are pressing for reform.

Visa has threatened to "reassess our sponsorship" if changes are not made. The Coca-Cola Co. expressed concern, saying the controversy "tarnished the mission and ideals" of the World Cup.

"They do have tremendous leverage, but it remains to be seen whether they have legal grounds to abrogate their deals," said former CBS Sports President Neal Pilson, who runs a media consulting firm.

UEFA President Michel Platini, the former French national team star, did not applaud Blatter after the election. He said before the vote UEFA would be "open to all options" if Blatter gained re-election, and UEFA will meet in Berlin ahead of the Champions League final on June 6.

Europe supplies 13 of the 32 teams for the World Cup (plus Russia as the host in 2018), and UEFA holds eight of the 25 voting seats on FIFA's executive committee. Blatter said after his victory that FIFA "must have a better representation of the confederations and the number of members" on the executive committee. "We need more respect for the Oceanian confederation," he added.

"The Solomon Islands are going to have a spot? But Germany, nah, not so much?" Ganis said. "Sepp Blatter can get 140 votes from the Trinidad and Tobagos of the world, these island nations whose FIFA representative is one of the wealthiest persons on the island in part because he's the FIFA representative. And he'll be able to hold onto power as long as he wants in part because of the voting process."

FIFA could be headed toward an internal fight, much as college sports in the United States went through last year when the NCAA -- the body that oversees competition -- agreed to give its five biggest conferences greater autonomy.

"FIFA World Cup" is trademarked, but if UEFA boycotts the tournament or breaks away from FIFA, and it is backed by the United States and South America's top powers, the World Cup would be about as interesting as the African Cup of Nations or the Asian Cup.

Blatter downplayed the possibility.

"They need FIFA, and FIFA needs UEFA," he said Saturday.

But would television networks and sponsors pay all that money for an audience to watch 97th-ranked Malawi play No. 99 Qatar?

What if UEFA told European clubs -- which have the best players from around the world -- to ignore FIFA's regulations and refuse to release players to national teams for World Cup qualifiers?

"This isn't over by any means," England Football Association chairman Greg Dyke said.

Danny: Yes, we paid R120m
Phalane Motale (The Sunday Independent)

Newly-elected Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor and South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan has confirmed that the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) paid $10 million (now about R120m) after South Africa won the bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. But he has insisted this was not a bribe.

This is the first time that South Africa has confirmed to paying money to a football association then led by former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, the man at the centre of the bribery claims that have rocked the soccer governing body.

Warner is one of the officials arrested and indicted this week by the FBI in connection with alleged corruption and bribery at FIFA.

The admission follows a week of denials from local football authorities and the government, that South Africa had paid a $10m bribe to secure the hosting of the 2010 World Cup.

Jordaan, who was the 2010 LOC chief executive, said that the $10m was paid to the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) in 2008 as South Africa’s contribution towards their football development fund.

Warner was at the time president of CONCACAF. This week several high ranking officials were arrested in Zurich. Warner was arrested in Trinidad.

South Africa is alleged to have promised to pay Warner $10m for his support for the 2010 bid. After South Africa won the vote‚ football officials allegedly said it was not possible to pay him out of South African government funds.

Instead‚ the money was deducted directly from a payment FIFA made to South Africa to help finance the hosting of the tournament, thereby concealing the alleged bribe.

It is alleged that Warner, in return, paid two other FIFA executives.

Of the $100m (about R1.2 billion) which FIFA had to pay SAFA for hosting the 2010 World Cup, The Sunday Independent has reliably been informed that SAFA only received $80m.

FIFA had deducted $20m ($10m for the building of SAFA House and the other $10m was for the “CONCACAF Development Fund”).

Jordaan said the money was directly paid over to them by FIFA.

The Sunday Independent has discovered that no other football association under FIFA received a similar cash injection during 2008.

And the reason why the CONCACAF was chosen above any other members, including those from Africa, was that “it regarded itself as part of the African diaspora”, according to a SAFA official.

A damning indictment by US authorities alleged bundles of cash stuffed in a briefcase were handed over at a Paris hotel as a bribe by a “high-ranking South African bid committee official”. It is not clear if this $10m is the same amount that the FBI is investigating.

The name of the South African official has not been revealed.

Jordaan said the 2010 Bid Committee concluded its business with the awarding of the World Cup on May 15, 2004. “I haven’t paid a bribe or taken a bribe from anybody in my life. We don’t know who is mentioned there (in the indictment).

“And I don’t want to assume that I am mentioned.

“They can ask all the executives of FIFA that I have engaged with,” said Jordaan, adding: “During my tenure as CEO at the 2010 World Cup Organising Committee, I was bound by regulations set out in the Schedule of Delegated Authority (SODA).

“Under that authority, I could authorise payments of a maximum of R1 million.”

Jordaan said South Africa won the 2010 World Soccer Cup bid on May 15, 2004 and the $10m was only paid by FIFA to CONCACAF in 2008.

“How could we have paid a bribe for votes four years after we had won the bid?”

Asked if he was aware that $10m was paid over by FIFA to CONCACAF on behalf of South Africa in 2008, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula on Saturday said: “I am not going to respond to that.

“If you want my response, you better go to the statement I issued earlier in the week or go back to Jordaan, who will then give you all the details you want.”

It was later established that Mbalula had contacted Safa for more information regarding the payment, with the intention of issuing a statement.

No such statement had been issued at the time of going to press.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has not been indicted, has long been dogged by allegations that he uses “football development” funds as a slush fund, distributing money to soccer officials in each of FIFA’s 209 member nations in exchange for their votes during presidential elections.

Despite the allegations, he has strongly denied that he was involved in any wrongdoing, saying it was not possible to watch everybody all of the time.

FIFA Official Cites Satirical ‘Onion’ Article in His Self-Defense
By Robert Mackey, NY Times

Jack Warner, a former vice president of world soccer’s governing body, FIFA, defended himself against corruption charges on Sunday by citing an article from The Onion, apparently unaware that it was satire.

Mr. Warner, 72, who was arrested last week in connection with a wide-ranging criminal investigation by the United States Justice Department, held up the faux news report as evidence, he said, of an American conspiracy, in a video statement that was uploaded to the web and then removed later in the day.

A copy of a video statement uploaded to YouTube on Sunday by Jack Warner, a former soccer official accused of corruption.

Jack Warner, via YouTube

The satirical article, published Wednesday under the headline, “FIFA Frantically Announces 2015 Summer World Cup in the United States,” mockingly suggested that, to placate American officials, the governing body had added a new tournament, which would begin the very same day.

Holding up a printout of The Onion piece as if it were a genuine news report, Mr. Warner told viewers of the video posted on his personal website, Facebook page and YouTube channel, “All this has stemmed from the failed U.S. bid to host the World Cup.”

Mr. Warner, the leader of Trinidad’s Independent and Liberal Party, went on to suggest that American officials were primarily motivated by losing a bid to host the 2022 World Cup. “The U.S. applied to hold the World Cup in 2022 and they lost the bid to Qatar — a small country, an Arabic country, a Muslim country.”

“I could understand the U.S. embarrassment,” Mr. Warner continued, but it is important, he added, to “take your losses like a man.”

He then speculated further that a second goal of the criminal investigation that has ensnared him was to force “Russia to give up the World Cup,” which it is hosting in 2018. “Why is it,” Mr. Warner asked of the American prosecutors, “that they believe that they have a right to the World Cup?”

As dramatic background music swelled, he went on, holding up The Onion article again, to accuse the United States of hypocrisy for accepting the right to host the (entirely fictional) “Summer World Cup, 2015, from the very same organization that they are accusing of being corrupt. That has to be double standards.”

In the video, Mr. Warner also said he was “consoled by the fact that many of you on the blogs, on Twitter, on Facebook, on other channels, throughout were very supportive of me and still are.” He assured his supporters that, “At the end of the day, all of the allegations against me shall be proven to be unfounded.”

“You see, it is not when you’re up that you know who your friends are,” he said, “it’s when you are perceived to be down.”

After Mr. Warner’s error in mistaking The Onion for a news source was noted, and mocked, on social networks, the video disappeared without explanation from his website and social media accounts. Two hours later, it was replaced by an edited version of the video, missing 63 seconds and all references to The Onion.

ILP leader a laughing stock after using satirical 'Onion' to defend himself
By Leah Sorias (Express).

THE JOKE'S ON JACK

The peeling of onions usually results in tears and yesterday the satirical online US news­paper The Onion caused embattled Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader and former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner to stumble in his self-defence against being "everybody's whipping boy both nationally and internationally".

Warner, who appeared not to know The Onion is famed for its satire, sought to use in his defence an article which appeared in that newspaper. He did so in an eight-minute video posted on his online television station, Jack TV, in which he insisted the US has "double standards".

The Onion article, which appeared on the website on Wednesday, poked fun at FIFA, saying that in an attempt to appease US officials following the arrest of football executives on Wednesday, it chose the US to host the 2015 Summer World Cup.

Warner believed the article to be true and stated: "If FIFA was so bad why is it that USA want to keep the FIFA World Cup? Why is it that they began games on May 27, two days before the FIFA election?"

Warner's mistake was picked up by the international media, including the New York Times, ABC Online, The Toronto Sun and CBS News.

He also was the laughing stock of many on social media sites yesterday. Just after 2 p.m., the video was removed from Jack TV and Warner's Facebook page.

It was reposted hours later, minus the reference to the Onion article.

Attempts to reach Warner last night proved futile.

In Warner's video, he insisted his indictment on Wednesday was all part of a US conspiracy stemming from that country's failure to win the bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

"The US had tried to host the World Cup in 2022 and they lost the bid to Qatar, a small country, an Arabic country, a Muslim country.

"I would understand the US embarrassment that a small country as Qatar, with less than 30,000 people as residents, could have been able to overcome them this way," Warner said.

"I could understand their pain, but nothing gives them the right to do what they're doing. I said before, I say again that no one country has any divine right to host a World Cup, and if the FIFA authorities in their wisdom or lack of it chose to select Qatar for the World Cup then so be it," he stated, adding the US should count its losses "like a man" and move on.

But as he sought to provide evidence that the US has "double standards", Warner whipped out a copy of a fake article posted on satirical website The Onion.

Aussies want back $$

In the video, Warner also insisted there were no strings attached to Football Federation Australia's (FFA) payment of US$462,200 (TT$2.93 million) to CONCACAF to fix the Marvin Lee Stadium.

Warner explained Australia "promised to assist" CONCACAF in developing and fixing the Centre of Excellence and he agreed to it. "There were no strings attached to that and I said fine, go ahead, and they helped to fix the Centre of Excellence, and I said fine," he noted.

His response came amid reports the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have agreed to probe the payment following a request by former Australian football executive-turned-whistleblower Bonita Mersiades.

South Australian senator Nick Xenophon also called on Australia's national football governing body, FFA, to formally report the payment to US authorities.

The FFA has claimed the 2010 payment was intended for upgrade of Stadium at the Centre of Excellence and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. It has insisted its bid was clean.

An investigation by CONCACAF, the regional governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, later stated it had been misappropriated by Warner in 2013.

Warner was one of 14 people indicted by US authorities on Wednesday for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering.

He is currently on $2.5 million bail after being arrested and charged locally.

'Thanks to supporters'

Meanwhile, Warner described as pathetic criticism he has changed the culture of FIFA, saying nothing he has done has been inconsistent with the international culture of the world football governing body.

"How do you judge, for example, that after all these accusations that the president of FIFA Sepp Blatter has been re-elected for the fifth consecutive term?

"If I was so bad and if FIFA is so bad, how come the head of FIFA is not?"

He noted the past week had been "the most trying one" for him, and thanked his supporters and family for standing by him.

"It is not when you're up you know who your friends are, it's when you are perceived to be down and some of the persons who I thought were my friends, today I realise I was a dreamer. They were not. And those persons who I thought were just casual friends, they emerged to the stalwarts.

"Who sent their deeds and who sent cheques so as to be able to stand my bail because they realised that all the properties I had, none of them could have been any use since they all had my names on then and therefore I can't stand my own bail, so to speak. So all of you who came out with deeds and properties and even your blank cheques, I want to say thanks to you."

Warner added the events of the last few days have brought his ­family closer.