Jack Warner says John Oliver is a “comedian fool” who dissed Trinidad

From CARIBBEAN360

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Friday June 12, 2015 – If there at least one man who didn’t think it funny that comedian John Oliver bought airtime on local television station TV6 to call on Jack Warner to spill his FIFA secrets, it was Warner himself.

The former FIFA vice president has not only called the British-born Oliver – whom he repeatedly referred to as an American – a “comedian fool”, but also cried shame on TV6 for selling him the airtime.

In an almost three-minute video posted online yesterday, Warner said it was “incomprehensible” that a local television station would allow “an American foreigner” to embarrass its citizens for a few advertising dollars.

“If a local TV station feels it’s proper to bring an outsider here to embarrass us, then all I can say is hea¬ven help us,” he said.

He also hit back at the Last Week Tonight host whose video, ‘The Mittens of Disapproval Are On’ aired on Tuesday night, was a response to the former FIFA executive’s ‘The Gloves Are Off’ address to the nation which was televised last week.

“I don’t need any advice from any comedian fool, who doesn’t know anything about this country, to tell me what files to release and what not to release. That is not his business. I take no instructions from him and, worse yet, I don’t take any instructions from an American at this point in time,” the 72-year-old politician said.

Warner called on Trinidadians to come together to stand united against outsiders who sought to disrespect them.

Oliver’s use of select Trinidadian dialect also annoyed Warner.

He said the comedian was critical of the way Trinidadians speak as well as their culture.

Some people, on the other hand, didn’t take Oliver’s video as serious. Even local comedian Rachel Price said she saw the humour in it.

Despite his joke-filled address, Oliver indicated he was serious when he called for Warner to tell all.

“Mr Warner, do not blueball the entire planet by promising spectacular FIFA revelations and not delivering. I am begging you; release everything,” he said as he directly addressed Warner whom he said appeared to be “an absolutely terrible human being”. “It’s not like you’re not already, potentially, in a lot of trouble. Seriously, I’ve been looking through the indictment and good luck with that!”

Oliver was referring to the 47-count indictment which alleges that Warner and 13 others – current or former FIFA top officials and sports marketing and broadcasting executives – accused of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, bribery.

The 14 are accused of offering and accepting more than US$150 million in bribes and kickbacks over a 24-year period.

IMAGES:
JACK WARNER (PHOTO: THE GUARDIAN)
COMEDIAN JOHN OLIVER

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Related story

FIFA scandal intensifies – Cheney Joseph, President Grenada FA: “Webb- ‘why was I so nice and naïve?’”

By Tony Best Special to the NNPA New York Carib News From Los Angeles Sentinel

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announces his decision to quit and Caribbean countries are thrust further into the soccer scandal, Jack Warner, former FIFA Vice President, and Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands accused of Being involved in $150 million bribery and money laundering schemes

Already facing a scandal of global proportions, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, FIFA, has been thrown into further turmoil now that its President Sepp Blatter abruptly announced his resignation,

Blatter’s decision to step aside may have been caused by a revelation yesterday that Jack Warner, a former President of CONCACAF, who was until recently a cabinet minister in Trinidad and Tobago, may have acted improperly by accepting a $10 million donation from South Africa to a special Diaspora project for the Caribbean. Blatter was president of FIFA for almost 20 years. A successor is to be elected at a special emergency FIFA meeting.

CONCACAF is a regional body that manages soccer in the Caribbean, North, South and Central America.

Some officials in and out of FIFA and football associations have expressed dismay about the money. Some of them wonder if it was an inappropriate payment linked to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

A week after the U.S. Justice Department and Swiss law enforcement authorities arrested or charged 14 current or former FIFA senior officials accusing them of engaging in an extensive scheme of fraud, money laundering and bribery that reached into Africa, the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean, South and Central America and a few days after the FIFA President was re-elected to a fifth term, Blatter announced his decision which has shaken the football world to its foundation and has placed the spotlight even more on the Caribbean and elsewhere. A global media spotlight is being focused on Caribbean public figures, especially on Jack Warner, a former cabinet minister of Trinidad and Tobago who at one stage was one of the most powerful figures in FIFA, and Jeffrey Webb, president of CONCACAF, find themselves indicted on several charges that arose out of a sweeping international investigation.

The upshot: Webb was forced out of his FIFA vice presidency and his place at CONCAF’s helm. Warner was arrested in his birthplace last week and spent a night in jail after surrendering at a local police station.

But amidst the global uproar triggered by the charges against 14 people, Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s long-serving president, was re-elected to a fifth term; Webb has vowed to fight extradition to the U.S. from Zurich where he was arrested.; Warner is facing a charge that seven years ago he directed received a $10 million donation from the South African Football Association to finance a Diaspora Legacy Program in the Caribbean; and two of Warner’s children, Daryn and Dayrll, have pleaded guilty to corruption charges and agreed to cooperate with U.S. authorities. They reportedly admitted that they were part of a scheme that sold World Cup ticks. In addition, Enrique Sanz, CONCACAF’s General Secretary, was suspended, and Jean Guy Blaise Nayolas and Badji Mombo Wantete, two officials of the Congolese Football Association, Fecafoot, were provisionally banned by FIFA’s ethics committee.

“The Diaspora Legacy Program shall be administered and implemented directly by the President of CONCACAF (Warner) who shall act as the fiduciary of the Diaspora Legacy Program Fund of $10 million,” was the way Dr. M. Oliphant, President of the South Africa Football Association, put it in a letter to FIFA’s Secretary-General, Jerome Valcke in 2008.

South African officials have denied the money was a bribe and insisted it was part of its legal Cup agreement with FIFA for the 2010 World Cup competition in South Africa.

Football programs in several Caribbean countries, including the Cayman Islands have benefitted from the Legacy Fund.

Interestingly, Warner who has vigorously denied he was part of any illegal activity wondered after his release from a Port-of-Spain jail why Blatter wasn’t charged with wrongdoing.

“Why are there no investigations into Sepp Blatter? No other person has brought so much shame and disgrace on FIFA,” claimed Warner who was quick to say that “the people of Trinidad and Tobago will know that I quit FIFA and international football more than four year ago and that over the past several years I have recommitted my life to the work of improving the lot of every citizen of every creed and race in this nation.

He didn’t stop there.

“I have fought fearlessly against all forms of injustice and corruption,” warner added. “I have been afforded no due process and I have not even been questioned in this matter. I reiterate that I am innocent of any charges.”

In the meantime, the Cayman Islands, which has often found itself under international scrutiny because of its success as a financial center is being portrayed as “central” to the alleged $150 million “racketeering scheme.

Webb, who headed the Cayman Islands football organization and was often portrayed as Blatter’s heir apparent, was once seen as a shining and energetic light in the administration of international soccer is accused of seeking and receiving millions of dollars in bribes. His fall from grace has embarrassed the Cayman Islands, even as he denied any wrongdoing.

The Caribbean’s reaction to the indictments and the attention was mixed.

Jamaica’s Minister with responsibility for Sports, Natalie Neita-Headley, told a radio station at home that there was no indication at this time that the current corruption scandal would affect Jamaica. In other words, Jamaica didn’t have a problem on its hands as the scandal unfolded.

Cheney Joseph, President of Grenada’s Football Association, seemingly rejected the charges leveled at Webb, a long-time friend, saying “I genuinely believe that Jeff Webb – I don’t believe that his intension was to profit from football as an individual. Wherever Jeff is sitting (in Zurich after his arrest), he contemplating, ‘why was I so nice and naïve.”

A Barbados representative said he would wait and see how the situation played out.

Interestingly, Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney-General who announced the indictments, said that Warner played an important part in the illegal scheme while court papers stated that after Webb succeeded Warner as CONCACAF president, the change in leadership “did not usher in an era of reform,” contending the Cayman Islander engaged in “criminal schemes.”

For more on this story go to: http://www.lasentinel.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15475:fifa-scandal-intensifies&catid=98&Itemid=188