Not guilty! FIFA VP defends government role

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Regional football mogul Jack Warner returned from the FIFA World Cup in South Africa on Tuesday, insisting he had broken no law by accepting a ministerial portfolio in the new Trinidad and Tobago government, while still serving as a FIFA vice-president.

Warner, a long serving, high-ranking member of football’s world governing body, FIFA, was recently appointed Works and Transport Minister in the Coalition government which won general elections here last month.

“I ask Dr Rowley, as I ask you today, what law did I break, as vice-president of FIFA, or as Minister of Works and Transport,” queried Warner.

“What law did I break? If anybody can tell me what law I broke, I would, of course, be very grateful, because I continue to be a law-abiding person. What code of ethics did I transgress?”

Met on arrival by a large group of supporters, Warner said he would abide by the decision which Attorney General Anand Ramlogan would give to government on the matter.

Ramlogan said last week that he has asked three senior prominent lawyers, including Guyana-born, Sir Fenton Ramsahoye, for their opinion on the controversy.

Newly appointed Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley had written to the Integrity Commission seeking to determine whether Warner was in breach of the Code of Ethics for Parliamentarians by holding the Cabinet post and the FIFA position.

In his letter, Rowley said he wanted the Commission to ask Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to indicate whether Warner would also remain president of CONCACAF, the continental governing body for North, Central America and the Caribbean.

In addition, Rowley questioned whether Warner would continue as special adviser to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation since both organisations continuously lobby government “for allocations of not insignificant sums for the necessary promotion of football”.

Rowley said the potential for conflict was clearly evident, especially when Warner had “definite, known, personal and business connections” with both entities.

In its three-page statement, the Commission said it was “of the view that all persons in public life who offer themselves for Cabinet posts should so organise their affairs in order that there be no breach of the … Code of Conduct or the Code of Ethics”.

Warner, who was in South Africa for the opening of the World Cup, told supporters that he would be away for a maximum of 16 days each year on FIFA business and reiterated that he was not paid a salary from FIFA.

He said his focus as a government minister would be on making a positive national contribution.

“I have asked the Ministry of Works and Transport for no favours except to serve you,” Warner said.

“No favours except to fix the roads, the bridges and the drains, to solve the traffic jam problems, to sit with my colleagues in the Cabinet to help improve your lives.”