Warner comes under fire for 'missing' Haiti aid funds

Saturday, February 18, 2012

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Former Caribbean football mogul Jack Warner has again come under fire over missing Haiti emergency aid money, with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) alleging Thursday that its former special advisor had taken sole responsibility for the funds.

In a release, the embattled TTFF claimed while it was aware of the funds sent by football's world governing body, FIFA, and the Korean Football Federation, the money had been handled by Warner alone through one of its accounts.

"The TTFF acknowledges it is aware of funds made available by both FIFA and the Korean Football Federation for the football victims of Haiti's devastating earthquake in 2010," the TTFF said.

"However, we are unable to confirm the quantum of funds received, as these monies did not go into the account used by the TTFF administration for its day-to-day operations, but instead to the TTFF's LOC account as was requested by Mr Jack Warner, the former vice-president of FIFA and special adviser to the TTFF.

"The current executive is unaware of how these funds were disbursed or utilised and is awaiting the promised audited accounts from Mr Warner."

FIFA said earlier this week it had wired US$250,000 at Warner's request following the Haiti earthquake, but claimed the Haiti federation had only received US$60,000.

The earthquake on January 12, 2010 killed an estimated 300,000 people and left more than a million others homeless. A number of Haitian football executives were also killed.

FIFA said it still had not received "a satisfactory response" about what happened to the remaining US$190,000 and had stopped further payments to the Trinidad federation.

Warner, a former powerful FIFA vice-president, brushed aside the latest firestorm earlier this week as "foolish".

In the release, the TTFF admitted it had ceded much of its authority to Warner who had now failed to provide the relevant information it had requested.

"The TTFF realises the final responsibility for any account in its name lies with us, but confesses that it surrendered its authority to Mr Warner, who has been for more than three decades a larger-than-life figure in national and international football and was a trusted agent and member of our organisation," the TTFF said.

"We never questioned his authority or actions and are now in a position of despair as we are starved of funds by FIFA until full disclosure, which we are unable to provide without Mr Warner's input. Sadly, Mr Warner seems disinclined to comply with our repeated requests."

Warner was also a FIFA executive committee member and head of the North, Central American and Caribbean Confederation and the Caribbean Football Union (CONCACAF) before resigning last year at the height of the cash-for-votes bribery scandal.

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Warner comes under fire for 'missing' Haiti aid funds