(Trinidad Guardian) Embattled Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner cannot be touched despite recurring allegations of wrongdoing on his part because he holds Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the members of her government to ransom with files he once claimed to have on them. This was among the many sentiments expressed by former prime minister Basdeo Panday in an interview. The recent release of a video recording by London’s Telegraph newspaper, cites Warner as having allegedly urged officials of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), to accept a US$40,000 gift on May 11 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain.
The “gifts” were alleged to be inducements to support Mohamed bin Hammam’s FIFA presidential bid.
Panday said: “I am now beginning to believe Mr Warner when he said he had a file on them because it seems as though he cannot be touched, even when the evidence is glaring. “If, by his own admission, he said he handed money over in the circumstances in which it was said and still, the Prime Minister doesn’t believe there was any wrongdoing, then it must be that he has a file.” Asked whether he had much confidence in the outcome of this Warner matter Panday said he was sure Ramlogan “will not find anything” against the Works Minister.
He said this was partly because Ramlogan, like other members of Persad-Bissessar-led Cabinet, “were more interested in holding on to their office as though it were the most valuable possession they ever had.” “The Prime Minister has got to take a decision on this matter and I believe she is trying to avoid taking that decision by handing the problem to the AG, who I can predict, will give a nonsensical legal decision in favour of Warner. “The moment the Prime Minister said she was referring the Warner matter to the AG, I knew they were going to cook it up,” he said. Panday added: “I don’t think Warner is being treated lightly, but with fear. I think he’s holding something over them and they can’t touch him and their actions seem to confirm that he has files containing deleterious matter against them.”
He said while there were some who regarded Warner as an asset to the People’s Partnership, “he is also a tremendous liability” and the fact that he “works hard” does not mitigate him from these FIFA allegations which have now re-surfaced. “They will have to weigh, in their own minds, what is right and the public will judge them come the next election,” Panday said. The former political leader of the United National Congress added that since Warner has called upon other people in public office to resign for allegations of misconduct, the current predicament he had found himself in was ironic and “would be even comical, had it not been such a tragedy for the country.” Commenting on the pre-action protocol letter directed to the former Udecott executive chairman, Calder Hart, Panday said the move was a “distraction” from the Warner issue and he questioned why civil and not criminal action was pursued in the matter.
“Is it that they have evidence that supports a civil and not a criminal action? They have to explain all of this to the people. “They just can’t say they’re bringing civil action when criminal action ought to be brought. It is almost an admission of defeat,” he said. “The government is very famous for its uncanny ability to inflict a smokescreen upon the population whenever they are in trouble and almost everything they do is in order to serve as a distraction. “They learnt that beautifully from Patrick Manning—a true master of the art,” Panday said.
