Warner: FIFA gifted me World Cup TV rights
Reuters - Thursday 29 December 2011, 21:09
Former FIFA vice-president Jack
Warner said he was sold the World Cup television rights for
Trinidad and Tobago for as little as $1 in return for supporting
FIFA President Sepp Blatter in football elections.
Warner, who resigned from all his football positions in June
after he was suspended by FIFA following allegations in a
cash-for-votes scandal, issued a statement on Thursday revealing
the details of the television deals.
A spokesman for FIFA said football's world governing body was
"looking into" Warner's statement and would make no further
statement in the meantime.
Warner said that he was awarded the rights for seven World
Cups at a minimal fee.
For the 1998 tournament, Warner said FIFA sold them to him,
through a Mexican company, for just $1. Warner said the money he
made from selling the rights "was used primarily to assist in
the development of football in Trinidad and Tobago."
"This was just after Blatter had won the FIFA presidency
following a most brutal campaign against Lennart Johansson, a
campaign in which [Mohamed] Bin Hammam and I played critical
roles in support of Mr. Blatter," Warner said in the statement.
Warner has been heavily critical of the FIFA boss ever since
he resigned midway through this year as president of CONCACAF,
the regional confederation for North and Central America and the
Caribbean.
Warner was accused of having organized a meeting where Bin
Hammam, the former Asian Football Confederation president from
Qatar who was running against Blatter for the presidency, was
alleged to have distributed $40,000 in brown envelopes to
Caribbean football officials.
Warner and Bin Hammam have both denied the allegations
against them with Warner promising to unleash a "tsunami"
against Blatter.
In Thursday's statement, he said he was sold the rights to
more World Cups after helping Blatter get re-elected in 2002 and
2006.
"President Blatter sold me, not the CFU (Caribbean Football
Union), the World Cup TV rights for 2002 and 2006, no doubt in
appreciation of the work I did (with Bin Hammam) for his
re-election. The sale of these rights was used to develop
Caribbean football," Warner said in his statement.
Warner, who is the Minister of Works and Infrastructure in
Trinidad and Tobago, said the rights for the 2010 and 2014 World
Cup finals were again sold to him, but "using the CFU as the
vehicle."
Warner said he was offered another deal this year "in
exchange for my support (and by extension the support of the CFU
and the CONCACAF) in the FIFA presidential election, FIFA again
offered me the sale of the World Cup Rights for 2018 and 2022 as
a "gift" at a nominal fee."
Warner said FIFA also agreed to grant two $500,000 'Goal
Projects "as a gift to the CONCACAF to do with as CONCACAF
wished."
Warner said FIFA had since withdrawn the television rights
for the 2014 World Cup and revoked the offers for 2018 and 2022.
Blatter was re-elected for a fourth term on June 1 and vowed
to introduce reforms in the wake of bribery and corruption
allegations.