PORT OF SPAIN: Jack Warner is off the hook over allegations connected with the notorious FIFA presidential conference called in Port of Spain last spring in the doomed cause of Mohamed Bin Hammam.
Roger Gaspard, Trinidad’s Director of Public Prosecutions, appears – one way or another – to have acquiesed in a halt to investigations into possible tax-evading importation of cash for the meeting at which delegates from football federations in the Caribbean were offered $40,000 each for expenses.
Warner later walked out on all football rather than face a FIFA ethics code inquiry. He had been a vice-president of FIFA, president of the regional CONCACAF body and president of the CFU.
The DPP’s ruling was conveyed in a letter from the Police Service Commission (PSC), dated May 7, to the Leader of the Opposition Dr Keith Rowley. He had written to the PSC last year requesting the matter be investigated by the police.
Last weekend Warner had said: “This was a deliberate campaign designed to demonise me by those who were opposed to me.” He added his thanks to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar “for having kept the faith in me.”
Rowley was among those who publicly called for a police investigation into the allegation last year.
The letter stated in part: “The Commissioner of Police informed that the matter was investigated by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and “on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions, no further can be taken in this matter.” The letter was signed by Mrs A M Andrews, who is the secretary of the PSC, on behalf of the Director of Personnel Administration.
Gaspard later denied having issued any such advice but until further action is seen to be undertaken the issue remains on ice.
A spotlight fell back on Warner last week when reports of the financial crisis threatening CONCACAF and Warner’s role caused uproar at the organisation’s annual Congress in Budapest.
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