FORMER prime minister Basdeo Panday said that the United States Department of Justice's request to extradite Independent Liberal Party (ILP) political leader Jack Warner who was charged with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering will be a long process.
Panday said he would be watching to see how the situation with Warner, former FIFA vice president, played out.
Panday said: "I imagine they (US) will ask for extradition, it will go to court and then probably take a very long time. That is what is going to happen."
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20150527/news/panday-on-warners-indictment-an-example-of-tt-decline
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Jack Warner Alleges FIFA Link to Trinidad Election...
Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner says he has strong evidence to prove a deep link between FIFA money and the 2010 general elections in Trinidad.
Los Angeles: Jack Warner, a former FIFA vice president implicated in the corruption scandal roiling world football, said on Wednesday that he can prove a link between football's global governing body and his country's 2010 elections.
Warner, facing possible extradition to the United States after he was indicted by American authorities on corruption charges, has emerged as a key figure in the drama that culminated in FIFA president Sepp Blatter's stunning resignation on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Warner used a pre-recorded paid political broadcast televised on TV6 in Trinidad and Tobago to say he has compiled a file of documents that shows "a link between FIFA, its funding and me, the link between FIFA its funding and the United National Congress (UNC) and the People's Partnership government in (Trinidad and Tobago's) general election 2010."
The TV6 website reported that in the five-minute broadcast, Warner said the file "also deals with my knowledge of international transactions at FIFA, including its president Mr Sepp Blatter and, lastly, other matters involving (Trinidad and Tobago's) current prime minister."
http://sports.ndtv.com/football/news/243291-jack-warner-alleges-fif...
Seeing that Blatter just resigned as President of FIFA, do you think Diaz would take a hint?
2 June 2015
The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, resigns as head of football’s wor..., ending a 17-year tenure dogged by corruption scandals.
Earlier in the day Fifa’s secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, comes under pressure after evidence emerges showing he was aware of a $10m payment from South African officials to the former Concacaf president Jack Warner, a payment described by US investigators as a bribe.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/02/why-has-sepp-blatte...
Well, if he gets the $35,000,000 to produce THE INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA he could skim $6,000,000 off the top and pay back what was missing earlier and run the show with $29,000,000. Then he could patch up the books and make everything look square and then he could resign and not have to worry like Blatter and Warner.
But then again it eh have no Lynch and FBI and IRS in Trinidad ... so he could go $12,000,000 in the hole and still keep the office. If he takes a hint it will be the latter scenario.
Warner shoulda teach dem two sons OMERTA ... now everybody going to jail (including dey father) because dey run dey big mouth.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: FIFA II
Warner 'fooled' by fake article....
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'
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20150531/news/the-jokes-on-jack
FIFA and the World Cup
UPDATE: Facing extradition, Warner responds to news of U.S. indictment
Jack Warner is among several powerful figures in global football facing charges over widespread corruption over the past two decades, the New York Times reported.
UPDATE: Warner responds to news of US indictment
In a media release this morning Warner disassociates himself from the investigations stating that he has left FIFA and international football more than four years ago.
“It has been reported that a number of FIFA officials have been arrested in Switzerland and that at least one raid conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigators in Miami is being executed at what I presume to be CONCACAF offices.
“My name is being reported by international media as being one of those persons sought in connection with the probe.
“The people of Trinidad and Tobago will know that I quit FIFA and international football more than four years ago and that over the past several years I have recommitted my life to the work of improving the lot of every citizen of every creed and race in this nation,” Warner said.
Reaffirming his innocence, Warner stated that he was afforded no due process and was not questioned on the matter.
“I have fought fearlessly against all forms of injustice and corruption. I have been afforded no due process and I have not even been questioned in this matter. I reiterate that I am innocent of any charges. I have walked away from the politics of world football to immerse myself in the improvement of lives in this country where I shall, God willing, die,” he said.
Warner claimed that FIFA matters no longer concern him. However he noted the controversial upcoming elections.
“The actions of FIFA no longer concern me. I cannot help but note however that these cross- border coordinated actions come at a time when FIFA is assembled for elections to select a President who is universally disliked by the international community. At times such as this it is my experience that the large world powers typically take actions to affect world football. World football is an enormous international business,” he said.
Warner added that his sole focus is now on the people of T&T and he will continue with his political life.
“That is no longer my concern. My sole focus at this stage of my life is on the people of Trinidad and Tobago. I wish to advise the hundreds of thousands of persons who support the ILP that my commitment to them and to the people of Trinidad and Tobago is undaunted and can never be broken,” he said.
Warner faces charges and extradition
Several charged are officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the organisation responsible for the regulation and promotion of soccer worldwide, as well as leading officials of other soccer governing bodies that operate under the FIFA umbrella. Warner is a former vice president of FIFA.
In addition to senior soccer officials, the indictment also named sports-marketing executives from the United States and South America who are accused of paying more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for media deals associated with major soccer tournaments.
The soccer officials charged are Jack Warner, Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Eugenio Figueredo, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz.
The Times said much of the U.S. enquiry was focused on the Concacaf region, which governs soccer in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The confederation's Trinidadian former boss Warner was regularly dogged by accusations of corruption before he resigned in 2011, at which point FIFA terminated its investigations of him.
The U.S. criminal case will allow courts to look into matters that in the past had been investigated mainly by FIFA's own internal ethics committee, answerable to itself.
U.S. law gives its courts broad powers to investigate crimes committed by foreigners on foreign soil if money passes through U.S. banks or other activity takes place there.
DOJ announces indictments
A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Warner and Webb—the former and current and presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA headquartered in the United States – are among the soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery offenses.
The DOJ website said: "The indictment alleges that, between 1991 and the present, the defendants and their co-conspirators corrupted the enterprise by engaging in various criminal activities, including fraud, bribery and money laundering. Two generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal gain, frequently through an alliance with unscrupulous sports marketing executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks. All told, the soccer officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for their official support of the sports marketing executives who agreed to make the unlawful payments.
The indictment relates to bribes and kickbacks involving the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF region, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Champions League, among other events.
"Other alleged schemes relate to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of CBF by a major U.S. sportswear company, the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election," the DOJ statement said.
Two of Warner's sons, Daryll and Darian Warner were identified among those who pleaded guilty, in July and October of 2013 respectively, to wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and the structuring of financial transactions.
"Daryan Warner forfeited over $1.1 million around the time of his plea and has agreed to pay a second forfeiture money judgment at the time of sentencing," the statement said.
Former CONCACAF general secretary and a former FIFA executive committee member Charles "Chuck" Blazer, another defendant named by the DOJ, "waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a 10-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, income tax evasion and failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)."
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, "While at least one FIFA executive served as CONCACAF president without pay, there was little altruism involved, as he alone is alleged to have taken more than $10 million in bribes over a 19-year period and amassed a personal fortune from his ill-gotten gains."
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2015-05-27/update-facing-extradition...
Major news story resonating around the world. Loretta Lynch and the IRS at the helm.