MARABELLA, Trinidad (AP) — Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner made a televised address in Trinidad on Wednesday night, saying he will prove a link between soccer’s governing body and his nation’s elections in 2010.
“I will no longer keep secrets for them who actively seek to destroy the country,” Warner said.
Warner also said in the address, which was a paid political advertisement, that “I reasonably actually fear for my life.”
Still, a half-hour after the speech aired, Warner appeared at his Independent Liberal Party’s rally held under a canopy on a residential street. At least a couple hundred people were present when Warner spoke, many of them having not seen the televised remarks.
Warner said he has documents and checks that link FIFA officials, including embattled President Sepp Blatter, to the 2010 election in Trinidad and Tobago.
“I apologize for not disclosing my knowledge of these events before,” Warner said.
At his rally, a half-hour into his remarks, Warner ”“ mopping sweat from his forehead several times ”“ told supporters that he will not hold back in his newfound plan to expose scandal.
He said he has compiled reams of documents and is delivering them to his attorneys, for them to disseminate as they see.
“Not even death will stop the avalanche that is coming,” Warner said as his supporters cheered in celebration. “The die is cast. There can be no turning back. Let the chips fall where they fall.”
Warner also said that when he heard Blatter was stepping down, he wrote him to urge his immediate departure from FIFA.
“Blatter knows why he fell. And if anyone else knows, I do,” Warner said.
On the same day in New York, Former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer told a U.S. federal judge that he and others on the governing body’s ruling panel agreed to receive bribes in the votes for the hosts of the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.
Prosecutors unsealed a 40-page transcript Wednesday of the hearing in U.S. District Court on Nov. 25, 2013, when Blazer pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges.
Four sections of the transcript were redacted by prosecutors, presumably to protect avenues of their investigation.
Blazer, in admitting 10 counts of illegal conduct, told the court of his conduct surrounding the vote that made South Africa the first nation on that continent to host soccer’s premier event.
South African police investigating World Cup bribes
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African authorities have opened a “preliminary” investigation into World Cup bribery allegations, and an opposition lawmaker said Thursday he had information suggesting “high-level” involvement.
Anton Alberts of the Freedom Front Plus said the information his party received claimed a previous investigation into “irregular” payments around the World Cup bid was stopped by “high-level interference.”
“It (the information) does tell us of an event that took place and an investigation that was stunted from a political level,” said Alberts, an opposition member of parliament.
Documents were being handed over to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation unit and needed to be investigated fully, Alberts said.
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