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CONCACAF President & FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner to face FIFA disciplinary committee in regards to the resale of World Cup Tickets for the 2006 Tournament in Germany

Lasana Liburd

Saturday, September 16th 2006

FIFA vice-president Jack Warner's sporting career now rests with the global football organisation's Disciplinary Committee, who must decide on the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) special adviser's culpability regarding the resale of World Cup tickets for the 2006 tournament in Germany.

At a Zurich press conference yesterday-which was beamed live via the internet-FIFA president Sepp Blatter handed over what he called "a not too comfortable situation" for the Disciplinary Committee to adjudicate.

No deadline was set for a verdict and Blatter only said that the committee "will hopefully reach a conclusion very soon".

Warner stands accused of reselling at least 5,400 World Cup tickets at an inflated price, which contravenes several of the organisation's bylaws.

FIFA was made aware of Warner's alleged violations by independent international accounting firm, Ernst & Young, in separate reports last April and July. However, the information was not made public until English investigative reporter, Andrew Jennings, broke the story in the Daily Mail on Tuesday.

Warner's meeting with the Disciplinary Committee will be his fourth trip to the FIFA docks in the last eight months.

The United National Congress (UNC) deputy political leader was found guilty of "a conflict of interest" and breaching FIFA's Code of Ethics in February by the Committee for Ethics and Fair Play after his personal stake in Simpaul Travel was exclusively revealed by the Express.

But, a month later, Warner escaped with a reprimand after the case was taken up by the FIFA Executive Committee.

Yesterday, Blatter said the Executive Committee was no longer the "right platform to deal with this case" and would not repeat the "mistake" made in its March 17 judgment, which absolved Warner.

But Blatter will not send Warner before the Committee for Ethics and Fair Play a second time on the grounds that its new English chairman, Lord Sebastian Coe, should only deal with future cases.

It is the Disciplinary Committee, which was accused of several cover-ups during Blatter's term, that was called into action. In addition, Blatter said Warner will only be called to answer for 180 World Cup tickets purchased with his credit card although Ernst & Young alleged that he had resold thousands more.

The Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Blatter's compatriot Marcel Mathier, knows Warner and the T&TFF well.

In 2002, Blatter passed another potentially damaging case to Mathier's body when Trinidadian Neville Ferguson was accused of impersonating a Haitian delegate at the 1998 FIFA elections that saw Blatter replace outgoing leader, Dr Joao Havelange.

But the Disciplinary Committee's report was not made public until March 2005 and the media was then told that a decision was taken in secret, 20 months earlier, and Ferguson had been "reprimanded".

Warner also has a friendly face on the Committee in the form of ex-Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Captain Horace Burrell. In Warner's recent biography, Burrell referred to his regional colleague as a man of "moral authority".

Burrell was accused of encouraging his former girlfriend, Vincy Jalal, to impersonate the same FIFA delegate in 1996. But neither Burrell nor Jalal-whose name was recorded in the official congress report-were sanctioned.

Although Blatter passed the responsibility to decide Warner's case elsewhere, he was bombarded with questions from journalists in Zurich yesterday.

One reporter asked why Blatter treated Warner differently to Botswana delegate, Ismail Bhamjee, who was immediately sent home from the 2006 World Cup after another media sting implicated the FIFA executive committee member in "touting" 12 match tickets at three times the face value. Bhamjee promptly resigned all his sporting posts.

Blatter insisted that Warner's case is different as the CONCACAF president is attempting to defend his position while Bhamjee admitted his wrongdoing.

"The Bhamjee case is a totally different case," said Blatter. "Mr Bhamjee readily admitted having done wrong. He admitted his guilt and he did not wait for a decision to be taken. But, in a very generous manner, he simply withdrew."

In contrast, Warner launched a counter-attack which claimed that he was a victim of Ernst & Young's "incomplete" and "fatally flawed" investigations.

Warner also insisted that his purchase of 180 tickets with his own credit card was done "under duress". (SEE ACCOMPANYING STORY)

Some reporters wanted to know why FIFA had only just gotten around to the matter if Ernst & Young briefed them "half a year ago". Had FIFA suppressed potentially damning information?

Blatter's responses were slow and lengthy, punctuated by long pauses. He claimed that he already planned to raise the matter with his executive committee yesterday. It was mere coincidence, he suggested, that the meeting took place just three days after Ernst & Young's report was leaked through the Mail newspaper.

"The general secretary (Urs Linsi) was taking care of this matter," said Blatter. "But, as I said, we wanted to present it now to the Executive Committee Furthermore, we wanted to give the information to the Executive Committee at the moment when the Executive Committee is meeting.

"We did not want to disclose certain information to all the members of the Executive Committee when it would have been the same result as you have now."

In Bhamjee's case, an Emergency Committee meeting was called on June 17 and he was promptly sent home. Blatter did not deny that he knew of Warner's alleged wrongdoing at the same time that he disciplined the African delegate.

Blatter insisted that his close political ties with Warner would not stop him from acting if the Trinidadian violated the principles of fair play. He then left it to another committee to take action.

"I decided, and the executive committee followed me, this will now be handed over to a body that will settle this matter," said Blatter. "And this will be done by the disciplinary committee, having available two documents which will enable it to start working and deal with this particular issue and will hopefully reach a conclusion very soon."