(Trinidad Guardian) Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard says Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner has not been cleared of bribery allegations arising out of a Caribbean Football Union meeting in Port-of-Spain last year. He made the disclosure in an interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday.
“I have not cleared Jack Warner of anything. I have not closed any investigations. I never gave any directive to close investigations against Warner. I have not brought this investigation to a close,” said Gaspard. He said he received a memo, dated March 20, 2012, from investigator, ASP Totaram Dookie, which stated he was unable to discern any contravention of T&T laws by any person.
However, Dookie in his letter to the DPP said further investigations may be warranted, pursuant to the Customs Act 78:01. A source close to the investigation said a video and documents seized during the investigations were insufficient to advance prosecution against Warner. The source said there might be a criminal case to be pursued under the Customs Act.
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley requested a police investigation into the alleged bribery scandal involving Warner in May last year. It was alleged Warner, in his capacity as president of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), at a meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on May 10 and 11, 2011 offered US$40,000 to 25 countries represented at the meeting for their support of FIFA executive Mohamed Bin Hammam.
He was challenging incumbent Sepp Blatter for the post of FIFA president. Warner and Bin Hammam were to appear before FIFA’s Ethics Committee to answer bribery charges. But Warner subsequently resigned his FIFA executive position and avoided appearing before FIFA’s Ethics Committee to answer the charges. Bin Hammam was banned from FIFA for life after he was found guilty by the committee.
Meanwhile, Warner, in a statement on Tuesday, said the findings of the police investigation into the matter were “consistent with my position all along that I have been innocent of the allegations against me.” Warner said he had been vindicated. He said he did not wish to say anything about the thoroughness of the police investigation, saying those were matters for the relevant agencies to treat with in whatever manner they deemed appropriate.
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley had requested a police investigation into the allegations against Warner.
