Former FIFA Powerbroker Warner
Banned for Life
Trinidadian Jack Warner,
once one of the most powerful men in football, has been banned from all
football-related activities for life, the ethics committee of world governing
body FIFA said on Tuesday.
Warner, 72, was one of 14
football officials and sports marketing executives who were indicted in the
United States on May 27 on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges
involving more than $150 million in payments.
In the latest twist in the
corruption scandal, Swiss authorities said last week they were investigating
FIFA President Sepp Blatter on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and
misappropriation of funds.
The FIFA ethics committee said
Warner was investigated following an inquiry into the bidding process for the
2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The tournaments were awarded to
Russia and Qatar respectively in December 2010 by the FIFA executive committee,
of which Warner was a member.
Warner was found to have
committed “many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly
during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential
positions at FIFA and CONCACAF,” the committee said Warner is the former
president of CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and
Caribbean Association Football.
He is currently in his native
Trinidad and Tobago, where he is fighting extradition to the United States.
Warner resigned from his posts
when he was placed under investigation by the ethics committee in 2011 over a
cash-for-votes scandal in the run-up to that year's FIFA presidential election.
The case was subsequently dropped
by the ethics committee as he was no longer involved in football.