Embattled former Fifa official Jack Warner says he is not undertaking any plea- bargaining with the United States or any other authority.Warner made that clear when questioned by the T&T Guardian yesterday. This followed an international report that he was plea-bargaining. "That's not true," he emphasised.
Warner's two sons who were charged in July and October 2013 regarding Fifa issues waived indictment and pleaded guilty to various charges but both face maximum jail terms of ten years for structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements. They also face mandatory restitution, forfeiture and a fine.
Warner said yesterday he had not seen any charges against him yet.Attorney General Garvin Nicholas has said the US had not yet filed its formal request for Warner or anyone else. The US had 60 days to do that.Warner said: "I couldn't care less (about international reports). I'll do what I have to do when my time comes to do it."
He said he had stated he was not speaking to the media and said goodbye before he could be asked if he would heed overwhelming calls for him to give himself up and "face the music."After Tuesday's Senate session Sports Minister Brent Sancho told local and foreign reporters the only way for T&T's image and that of local sportsmen to try to recoup after being brutally tainted by Warner's charges, was for Warner to "face the music," give himself up to international authorities and account for the allegations.
Sancho alluded to the toll Warner's situation had been taking on T&T and local sportsmen in and out of T&T.He said the so called Fifa 14 officials indicted by US authorities should be made to pay back some of the money they were alleged to have "stolen from football development."Sancho added: "I think I may have spoken (about this issue) in about 50 different languages in the past two weeks.
"I don't think we will ever be able to recoup our image but for T&T's sake, Mr Warner has to step up and account for the allegations as people in the sporting fraternity also feel he should do or else we will all have to carry that tainted image on our backs along with the red, white and black."It's an absolute travesty, what has transpired over the last ten to 15 years as it relates to bribes and money laundering. I can only hope justice takes it course.
"We've gotten calls from all over the world constantly... Japan to this hemisphere... and T&T's image is being looked at in a negative light. Every time you switch on the TV or a call comes from a foreign journalist, it's spoken in a negative light."While we have had one or two 'ups' in sport for T&T, this however has overshadowed anything we have accomplished.
"When you look at the light this tiny island is now painted in, for T&T's sake, he must face the music and account for what has transpired. Everyone in the local sporting world, former players, people in the street tell me - they want him to give an account of this Fifa debacle over the years."Some say he has done so much for sport but it's hard to decipher what he has really done. Unless there's accountability, you don't know what's good from what is bad. So for Warner's own legacy in sport, he needs to account," Sancho added.