Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner yesterday said he predicted “Chuck Blazer will go the way of everybody else”, responding to FIFA’s ban on the American executive committee member from all soccer-related activities for 90 days after he was accused of embezzling at least US$21 million.
Blazer was the whistle blower in a 2011 bribery scandal involving Warner, his former boss at the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Football Federations (Concacaf), and then-Asian Football Federation head Mohamed bin Hammam. He accused the two men of attempting to bribe Caribbean delegates with US$40,000 each to vote for bin Hammam in the FIFA presidential election. Warner resigned as Concacaf president and FIFA vice-president during an ethics committee probe of the bribery allegations.
Blazer also subsequently stepped down as Concacaf secretary general.
However, Blazer’s suspension yesterday comes weeks after a Concacaf ethics committee enquiry headed by Bajan jurist Sir David Simmons found that he, along with Warner, were fraudulent in their management of the organisation.
It also follows FIFA’s finding, last week, that former president Joao Havelange, Warner’s mentor in world football, stepped down as honorary president FIFA’s ethics committee said he had accepted bribes in 1996.
Asked to comment on these developments involving Blazer and Havelange, during his walkabout in Endeavour, Chaguanas, yesterday, Warner said, “I have no comment to make on Havelange.”
Nevertheless he said, “I predicted that in the end, people will see exactly what FIFA is, and this FIFA bogey thing that is bedevilling this country shall be exposed. Don’t let me expose it nah, let FIFA expose itself.” He reiterated, “I say again to you that in the fullness of time, FIFA shall expose itself, I would not help FIFA to do that.” Warner resigned as Chaguanas West MP, UNC chairman and National Security Minister in the wake of the Simmons report which raised questions about the ownership of the Centre of Excellence, Macoya, named after Havelange.
He is seeking re-election as the MP and wants to be the UNC’s candidate. During a campaign launch in Felicity on Sunday, Warner said he met with his English lawyers the day before to discuss the Simmons report and that he would reveal their conclusions on the document soon.
During a previous meeting in Felicity on April 25, Warner revealed how he, on Havelange’s urging, used Concacaf’s votes to get then FIFA general secretary Sepp Blatter elected as FIFA president, even getting the girlfriend of a Jamaican football official to vote as a Haitian.
In a statement on Blazer’s ban, FIFA yesterday said its ethics committee decided to provisionally ban him “based on the fact that various breaches of the FIFA Code of Ethics appear to have been committed by the American.”
Blazer had previously said he would be giving up his seat on FIFA’s ruling board when his term expires this month. He was accused of having enriched himself through fraud according to the Simmons report by embezzling at least US$21 million and compensating himself with Concacaf’s funds without authorisation. Blazer, the most senior American official at FIFA for 16 years, also allegedly bought apartments with Concacaf money.
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Chuck Blazer gets provisional ban
By Associated Press
ZURICH -- FIFA provisionally banned outgoing executive committee member Chuck Blazer of the United States from all football-related activities for 90 days on Monday after he was accused of embezzling at least $21 million last month.
Blazer had previously said he'll be giving up his seat on FIFA's ruling board when his term expires this month, and was accused of having enriched himself through fraud in a report released in April by CONCACAF, the governing body for North and Central American and Caribbean football. Blazer is a former secretary general of CONCACAF and was accused of embezzling at least $21 million by compensating himself with the body's funds without any authorization. Blazer, the most senior American official at FIFA for 16 years, also allegedly bought some apartments with CONCACAF money. He resigned as CONCACAF's secretary general in December 2011.
FIFA said in a statement Monday that its ethics committee decided to provisionally ban Blazer "based on the fact that various breaches of the FIFA Code of Ethics appear to have been committed by" the American.
Blazer has not commented on the ethics allegations.
The American was the whistle-blower in a bribery scandal involving his former boss at CONCACAF, Jack Warner, who resigned as the body's president in June 2011 after Blazer accused him and then-Asian confederation head Mohamed bin Hammam of attempting to bribe Caribbean delegates $40,000 each to vote for bin Hammam in the FIFA presidential election.