Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, a central figure in world football’s deepening scandal, has vowed to tell investigators all he knows about corruption within the sport’s governing body.
In a paid political address entitled ‘The gloves are off’, broadcast in Trinidad and Tobago, Warner said he feared for his life, but would reveal everything he knew.
He said some of the documents he had related to financial dealings with FIFA, some of which are being investigated by US authorities. But he also said he had documents linking FIFA with the 2010 Trinidad and Tobago government elections.
The 72-year-old also indicated that his evidence will directly implicate the now former FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Warner said that when he heard Blatter was stepping down, he wrote to him to urge his immediate departure from FIFA.
“Blatter knows why he fell. And if anyone else knows, I do,” Warner said.
“I have kept quiet, fearing this day might come. I will do so no more,” he said.
“I will no longer keep secrets for those who actively seek to destroy the country.”
Warner is among more than a dozen officials charged by the US Department of Justice with running a criminal enterprise that involved more than US$150 million in bribes.
Prosecutors say Warner solicited bribes worth millions and charged him with offences including racketeering and bribery.
He is also alleged to have misappropriated a $500,000 donation by Football Federation Australia (FFA) to the North and Central American confederation (CONCACAF) as part of Australia’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2022 World Cup.