Warner suspicious of Blatter’s Caribbean move
Disgraced former Concacaf chief Jack Warner has accused Caribbean officials who attended a recent FIFA meeting including Bermuda’s Larry Mussenden of caving in to president Sepp Blatter.Warner, who resigned as FIFA vice-president following the fallout from the cash-for-votes scandal that tore apart the Caribbean Football Union, also claimed FIFA was attempting to take control of the regional footballing body.The allegation comes just days after FIFA hosted a meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, attended by the 30 member nations of the CFU as well as FIFA president Sepp Blatter where a normalisation committee was formed.However, Warner believes the committee, which has been tasked to restore the functions of the CFU to normalcy over the next five months, violates the CFU’s rules and labelled it a “farce beyond epic proportions”.“In one fell swoop, the Caribbean football leadership has now undone its struggle of some 33 years and has disrespected the entire region,” read a statement issued by Warner.“The FIFA president must not be allowed to continue the demeaning of people of colour without someone raising a voice to tell him enough is enough.“Neither the CFU nor the Concacaf is a member of FIFA, with the CFU being the regional administrative arm of the Concacaf. Therefore neither organisation has any legal standing within the FIFA, or vice versa.”The mandate of the normalisation committee includes appointing an interim general secretary, as well as a legal, finance and football committee.Mussenden, the Bermuda Football Association president, was appointed to the committee last week along with Yves Jean-Bart (Haiti), Luis Hernandez (Cuba), Victor Daniel (Grenada), Jeffrey Webb (Cayman Islands), Ronald Jones (Barbados), Everton Gonsalves (Antigua and Barbuda), Rignaal Francisca (Curacao) and Captain Horace Burrell (Jamaica).Warner went on to criticise the CFU officials who attended the Zurich meeting, saying that they were “dictated” to by Blatter and “were more interested in serving themselves than serving those persons who elected them to office.”He then revealed that 26 of the 30 Caribbean representatives at the meeting agreed to the decisions which were proposed by FIFA.Last week, Mussenden admitted the normalisation committee had plenty of work to do but was confident they could reach their goals within their “tight time-frame”.“FIFA president Sepp Blatter attended the meeting and encouraged all members to work hard resolving how to chart the way forward,” said Mussenden.The cash for votes scandal led to the downfall of Warner and his ex-Asian Football Confederation counterpart Mohamed Bin Hammam.Warner resigned from all football related activities in June, while Hammam was banned for life after being found guilty of attempting to buy votes in FIFA’s presidential election.A total of 16 CFU officials received sanctions for their roles in the infamous Trinidad and Tobago meeting in May, which was attended BFA officials Gregory Grimes and David Sabir.The BFA were one of the whistle-blowers that helped lift the lid on the worst corruption scandal to blight the sport’s world governing body.
