Jack Warner, man at center of FIFA scandal

"In the next couple days, you will see a football tsunami that will hit FIFA and the world that will shock you," Warner said in June 2011 before resigning as a FIFA vice president. File photo
Image by: ANDREA DE SILVA / REUTERS

As a FIFA vote buying scandal swirled about him in 2011, Jack Warner warned that what he knew about the murky world of professional football would unleash a "tsunami."

The Trinidadian may not have blabbed but Warner -- indicted by US authorities on corruption charges -- has emerged as a key figure in the drama that culminated in FIFA president Sepp Blatter's stunning resignation on Tuesday.

"In the next couple days, you will see a football tsunami that will hit FIFA and the world that will shock you," Warner said in June 2011 before resigning as a FIFA vice president.

At the time, he wanted to avoid being investigated over alleged bribes to buy votes from Caribbean countries.

His warning of a tidal wave was prescient. But in the end, the deluge swept the 72-year-old Warner away too.

Warner is one of 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a sweeping kickbacks scheme going back 20 years and totalling $150 million in bribes given or received

Last week, he surrendered to authorities in Trinidad and was later released on $400,000 bail. He has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence.

Warner -- the former president of CONCACAF, the organization that oversees football in North and Central America and the Caribbean -- and five other suspects were placed Wednesday on Interpol's most wanted list.

His origins are modest -- he used to be a school teacher -- but he used his charisma to gradually work his way up through the ranks of world football.

US prosecutors specifically accuse him of accepting bribes in exchange for helping South Africa win the honor of hosting the World Cup in 2010, and also during the 1998 World Cup host nation selection process.

The New York Times reported that in 2008, Warner allegedly received $10 million from Jerome Valcke, Blatter's right-hand man.

FIFA has acknowledged the transfer from South Africa to Warner, and Valcke said Wednesday he feels no guilt.

On Tuesday, Blatter shocked the world by abruptly announcing his resignation, just days after having been re-elected to a fifth term as FIFA president.

In Trinidad, the larger half of the Caribbean island nation it makes up with Tobago, Warner is the leader of the opposition Independent Liberal Party.

He says US officials are leading a witch hunt against FIFA because America never got over the failure of its bid to host the World Cup in 2022, which will be played in Qatar.

"All of this stems from a lost bid to host the 2022 World Cup," Warner wrote on Facebook over the weekend.

As proof, he cited an article from The Onion -- a satirical "news" website.

The goof sent snickers of laughter rippling across social media platforms.

Warner, who has closely cropped hair and glasses, is no stranger to scandal.

In 1983, he was elected to lead the Caribbean Football Union and later to run CONCACAF, where he remained from 1990 to 2011.

Over the course of his career, he has been accused of things like scalping tickets for matches both in Trinidad and at international tournaments, and misusing money donated to victims of the devastating Haitian earthquake of 2010 so they could watch that year's World Cup.

But Warner always emerged unscathed -- until his resignation in 2011. In doing so, proceedings against him by FIFA's Ethics Committee were dropped.

It was Warner's personality that would save him time after time, said Lasana Liburd, a sports journalist in Trinidad who has covered Warner for 20 years.

"He is a fantastic salesman, that's how he has done so well. He has the common touch ... He always tries to show himself upbeat, untouchable," Liburd, the editor-in-chief of the sports website Wired 868, told AFP.

In Trinidad, Warner depicts himself as a sort of Robin Hood, Liburd added.

"He would have people believe that he takes money from the rich nations and brings it down to Trinidad. He tries to sell that," Liburd added.

And because of that image, some people in Trinidad still support him.

Ironically, another former FIFA official who was instrumental in helping Warner get the top CONCACAF job -- the American Chuck Blazer -- pleaded guilty in the FIFA probe and collaborated with US authorities, even wearing a wire to tape incriminating testimony.

Warner is now awaiting a decision on whether Trinidad will extradite him to the United States.