Jack Warner (football official)

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Jack Warner (r.) With British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2009)

Austin "Jack" Warner (born January 26, 1943 in Rio Claro ) is a Trinidadian businessman and politician. Until 2011 he was FIFA Vice President, CONCACAF President and President of the Caribbean Football Union . Warner was Minister for Labor and Transport from 2010 and for National Security from 2012 and member of the Trinidadian Parliament. He resigned as Minister in April 2013.

Life

Early years

Warner was born in Rio Claro, the largest city in southeast Trinidad. He grew up with his single mother, three brothers and three sisters. According to his own statements, he graduated from Mausica Teachers Training College from 1963 to 1966 and studied at the University of the West Indies from 1966 to 1969 and at the Institute of International Relations in 1970. From 1971 to 1972 Warner was a teacher at a secondary school in Sangre Grande, at the same time he taught sociology at the University of the West Indies. From 1972 to 1993 he was a teacher in adult education at an evening school in Port of Spain.

Career as a football official

Warner (right) with American President Barack Obama (left) and FIFA President Sepp Blatter (center)

In 1966 Warner became General Secretary of the Central Football Association and from 1971 to 1973 General Secretary of the Central St. George Football Association.

From 1973 he worked as a volunteer secretary at the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF). In 1990 he was appointed President of the Caribbean Football Union , thereby giving up his post with the TTFF, but remained the association as a consultant.

1983 Warner became vice-president of the football continental association CONCACAF and thus a member of the FIFA executive committee . In 1990 he was elected President of CONCACAF. Warner and the new CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer managed to increase the association's annual turnover from 140,000 US dollars to over 40 million US dollars within a few years. In 1997 Warner was named FIFA Vice President.

In 1996 he founded the football club Joe Public FC , which he is chairman to this day. He was also involved in the creation of the TT Pro League , the top division in Trinidad and Tobago.

In 1998 Warner bought the Scarlet Ibis Hotel in Saint Augustine for C $ 6 million . This has been renovated and reopened under the name Emerald Apartments and Plaza. Warner's son Daryl took over the management of the hotel. The Kantak Plaza in Arouca also belongs to Jack Warner. The TTFF and CONCACAF administration buildings in Trinidad and Tobago also belong to Warner. He is also involved in investments in Costa Rica and the USA .

After the friendly match between Trinidad and Tobago and Scotland in Edinburgh on May 30, 2004 , Warner asked SFA President John McBeth to write the check for the pro-rata income from the game to him personally instead of to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association. McBeth refused to write the check. Warner then tried to get money for the game from several other members of the SFA.

Corruption investigation

Warner was accused by the BBC program Panorama of having repeatedly used his position with the football association for his own financial gain. Ernst & Young estimate that he and his family made at least $ 1 million in profits from reselling tickets to the 2006 World Cup that Warner ordered.

At the end of May 2011, Warner and Mohamed bin Hammam had to answer for allegations of bribery before the ethics committee of the world association. Warner was suspected of violating the FIFA Code of Ethics; he and bin Hammam have been suspended. They are said to have violated the FIFA Code of Ethics by trying to buy votes for bin Hammam's election as FIFA President at the Caribbean Football Union meeting. In June 2011 Warner resigned from his offices in the world association.

In May 2015, Warner was tried in federal court in New York City on a number of offenses, including fraud and money laundering. A few days later, Warner turned himself in to the police in his home country. He was arrested and brought before a judge who arrested him on eight counts on charges of corruption. Warner was granted a bail of 2.5 million Trinidad and Tobago dollars , had to surrender his passport and report to the police twice a week. He did not provide any information about the allegations and was supposed to spend one night in detention. Warner then complained of "exhaustion" and was taken to a hospital, which he left a short time later. He was then seen dancing at an Independent Liberal Party event. On June 3, Interpol named him, along with another FIFA official and four high-ranking FIFA employees, in a Red Notice to draw the authorities' attention to an impending extradition request from the USA and to ask for appropriate assistance. The attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago, Faris Al Rawi, prepared papers on September 21, which enable the extradition proceedings to proceed. Warner's attorneys had previously argued that the proceedings should be closed because a deadline originally set for September 16 had passed. Al Rawi took office on September 9th and on September 16th informed the judicial authorities that he needed more time to familiarize himself with the case. State officials said that with the papers signed, the case could continue to be heard. A court in Port of Spain confirmed this stance on September 25 and set the extradition proceedings for December 2, 2015. Warner appealed. The proceedings dragged on until September 2017 and ended with the appeal being rejected by the High Court . Warner turned to the appellate court . This confirmed the judgment of the lower court in June 2019. In January 2020, Warner reached out to the Privy Council, a government advisory body.

Jack Warner was banned for life by FIFA on September 25, 2015 based on an ethics committee investigation into the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups . He is therefore not allowed to exercise any football-related activity. The Ethics Committee believed that Warner was "a mastermind of systems that included the granting, accepting and receiving of covert and illegal payments, as well as other systems of enrichment". The ban was established on the basis of Art. 13 (General Rules of Conduct), Art. 15 (Loyalty), Art. 18 (Duty to notify, cooperate and accountable), Art. 19 (Conflicts of Interest), Art. 20 (Acceptance and granting of Gifts and other benefits) and Art. 41 (Obligations of the parties to cooperate) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

In July 2019, Warner was fined $ 79 million by a New York federal judge on a CONCACAF complaint for accepting bribes in connection with granting television rights.

Political career

In October 2007, Jack Warner was named chairman of the United National Congress , one of the two largest parties in Trinidad and Tobago. He was positioned as one of the party's leading figures for the 2007 state elections. The party received 15 of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives after the election . Warner then became Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West.

Elections were held again in 2010 because the then Prime Minister Patrick Manning had dissolved parliament prematurely and called new elections. The UNC, together with its coalition partner COP, received 29 of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives. Warner was re-elected in Chaguanas West with the highest voting rate in the country. After the election, Warner was appointed Minister of Labor and Transport. In 2012 he moved to the post of 'Minister for National Security'.

In April 2013 Warner had to resign as Minister for National Security. There was a break with the UNC. Warner resigned his parliamentary seat, left the UNC and founded a new party called the Independent Liberal Party (ILP). Warner again successfully applied for a seat in parliament in the necessary by-elections in the Chaguanas West constituency in July 2013.

In July 2015, the Trinidad Express revealed that around 70,000 euros had been diverted from an account in the Chaguanas West district to a private Warner account. In the parliamentary elections in September 2015, Warner lost his seat in parliament with a clear majority for his opponent in the Chaguanas East constituency.

In July 2020, Warner announced that he would run for the ILP in the parliamentary elections in August. After failing to win his constituency, he announced his retirement from politics.

Controversy

Bonuses for the 2006 World Cup

Before the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Warner was a consultant for the Football Association of Trinidad and Tobago. While working for the association, he negotiated an agreement between the football association and the Trinidad and Tobago players to share the proceeds. After the 2006 World Cup, the federation stated that he had earned TT $ 18.25 million and spent TT $ 17.9 million; he offered each player a share of the revenue surplus of TT $ 5,644.08. The players declined the offer because of the association's dubious numbers, whereupon Warner described the players as "greedy". Shaka Hislop, the interim president of the Trinidad and Tobago players' association, replied in a letter to Warner that he was "heavily influenced" and had a pre-conceived opinion on the matter.

The government of Trinidad and Tobago later revealed that the association had an estimated total of TT $ 173 million in revenue. The football association suggested taking the dispute to the UK Sports Dispute Resolution Panel, which the players accepted. Ian Mill QC, who heard the case, decided that the players should receive 50% of the income from the World Cup and World Cup preparation games. However, Michael Townley, the players' attorney, complained that to date the players have not seen a single penny.

Redirecting donations

2010 to Warner 750,000 US dollars , the FIFA and the Korean Football Association to the victims of earthquake in Haiti had donated have paid into a solely controlled by him account. This process only became known in 2012. Warner denied the allegations, calling them a conspiracy. As part of the investigation by the US judicial authorities into corruption at FIFA, the case was reopened in the investigation. Warner continues to deny having misused the money.

World Cup award to Qatar

In March 2014, allegations of corruption were published against Warner in relation to the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. The British newspaper Daily Telegraph wrote that it had access to documents that show that, a few days after Qatar was elected to host World Cup in 2022, Jack Warner and his family had received almost 1.5 million euros from Qatar from a company owned by the then football official and confidante of Emir of Qatar, Mohamed bin Hammam. The FBI has been investigating Warner for years; his son Daryan has been under house arrest since 2012 where he lives in Florida.

Sale of television rights

Swiss television SRF was able to bring a contract to the public in which the Caribbean Football Union , which was controlled by Warner, acquired the television rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups in 2005 for 600,000 US dollars. Warner then passed the license on to J & D International (JDI) in the Cayman Islands , which he owned, which in turn sold the rights to the Jamaican cable television company SportsMax in 2007 for a sum of 18 to 20 million US dollars , as did further journalistic research revealed. Warner himself does not deny that he first acquired the television rights and then resold them, but claims that he invested the profits from it in the development of the sport in the Caribbean. The contract discovered by Swiss television increased the pressure on Sepp Blatter , who had agreed to sell the rights to Warner, as documented by his signature on the contract. In an expansion of its investigations against FIFA, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office called the contract a violation of Blatter's obligations, as the rights had been sold below market value. Blatter's US attorney denies this allegation and insists that the contract was properly prepared and negotiated.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Biography . Jack Warner. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved on December 5, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b c Profiles . Jack Warner. Archived from the original on March 28, 2007. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  3. ↑ TTFootballHistory.com: Jack Austin Warner. Retrieved May 18, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b Lasana Liburd: Jack Warner: How to make a career at Fifa. WOZ, July 10, 2014, accessed December 6, 2014 .
  5. ↑ James Elected 2nd VP Jamaica Gleaner , May 2, 1990
  6. ^ A b Camille Moreno: The House that Jack Built . Business Guardian, Port of Spain. January 13, 2000. Archived from the original on May 13, 2001.
  7. ↑ Fifa and Coe ; Panorama broadcast on October 22, 2007.
  8. ↑ Andrew Jennings: The Beautiful Bung: Corruption and the World Cup ; Panorama broadcast on June 6, 2011.
  9. ↑ Notice from the US Department of Justice. Retrieved May 27, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Fifa scandal: Jack Warner dances after leaving hospital with 'exhaustion' in: The Guardian , May 29, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015
  11. ↑ Sepp Blatter linked with US inquiry as Interpol issues alert for Fifa executives - live updates in: The Guardian , June 3, 2015, accessed June 3, 2015
  12. ↑ Fifa crisis: Jack Warner's extradition to United States moves a step closer in: The Guardian, September 21, 2015, accessed on September 22, 2015
  13. Jump up ↑ Decision to extradite Jack Warner soon . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 25, 2015, accessed on September 26, 2015
  14. ↑ Extradition to proceed as Warner loses in court . In: Trinidad Newsday . 28th September 2017.
  15. ↑ InsideWorldFootball.com: Four years and counting, Warner loses his appeal but has 21 days to avoid US extradition. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Jada Loutoo: Jack Warner to take extradition case to Privy Council . In: Trinidad Newsday . January 20, 2020.
  17. ↑ Fifa bans Jack Warner for life. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, September 29, 2015, accessed on September 30, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Independent ethics committee imposes a life-long football ban on Jack Warner. In: Media Release. FIFA, September 29, 2015, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  19. ↑ FIFA Code of Ethics 2012. FIFA, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  20. ↑ FIFA corruption scandal: US judge sentenced Jack Warner , on deutschlandfunk.de, on July 10, 2019.
  21. ↑ Pridenews.ca: Warner Wins By-election in Ruling Party's Heartland. Retrieved May 18, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Anika Gumbs: Jack paid himself . In: Trinidad Express . July 10, 2015.
  23. ↑ Jack Warner concedes loss of seat in Trinidad and Tobago parliament. The Guardian, September 10, 2015, accessed on September 22, 2015 : "" This is my last hurray in politics, "the former Fifa vice-president said after the vote."
  24. ^ Camille Moreno: Jack Warner to contest general election . In: Trinidad Newsday . 17th July 2020.
  25. ↑ Janelle de Souza: Jack's last campaign; other small parties soldier on . In: Trinidad Newsday . August 11, 2020.
  26. ↑ Michael Herborn: Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation said to understate World Cup earnings by USD 25 million ; Article on playthegame.org from September 24, 2007.
  27. ↑ Trinidad Express Newspaper: Hislop relieved over SDRP judgment ( Memento from December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  28. ↑ Trinidad Express Newspaper: Let's start with $ 44m ( Memento from December 28, 2009 in the web archive archive.today )
  29. ↑ Fifa's Jack Warner accused of diverting funds Intended for Haiti earthquake victims in: The Guardian, June 9, 2015. Retrieved on June 9, 2015
  30. ^ Qatar World Cup 2022 investigation: former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner and family paid millions , The Telegraph. 17th March 2014. 
  31. ↑ Millions for the Fifa Vice President , Süddeutsche Zeitung. March 18, 2014. 
  32. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: Article list for Jack Warner
  33. ↑ Sepp Blatter under pressure over World Cup TV rights links to Jack Warner in: The Guardian, September 13, 2015, accessed on September 14, 2015
  34. ^ Sepp Blatter: Swiss attorney general opens criminal investigation in: The Guardian, September 25, 2015, accessed on September 26, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Warner, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Warner, Austin (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Trinidadian businessman and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Rio Claro , Trinidad and Tobago