PNM, COP on Jack video: PM must address issue now

By Gail Alexander
October 13, 2011 – guardian.co.tt

Jack WarnerThe Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) and the Congress of the People (COP), a coalition partner in the People’s Partnership, have called on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to immediately act in the issue concerning taped statements by Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner. PNM MP Amery Browne said Persad-Bissessar must immediately suspend Warner from the Cabinet and allow a police probe to proceed. COP chairman Joseph Toney, who said he was not at all comfortable with the situation pertaining to Warner, added that the Prime Minister must speak about the issue and the country must be told whether any laws were broken.

The tape was posted on the Internet by London’s Telegraph newspaper. In it, Warner allegedly urged fellow Caribbean football officials to accept US$40,000 cash gifts from Qatar’s Mohamed bin Hammam, a former presidential candidate for world football governing body, FIFA. Warner was at the time speaking at a meeting of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) on May 11 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain. This was before FIFA’s presidential elections. The gifts were an alleged payment for CFU members to support bin Hammam’s candidacy. Warner was suspended pending investigations into the incident. He subsequently resigned as FIFA vice-president. Warner has admitted to telling the CFU delegates to take the money and use it for development, but he says the tape was doctored.
Full Article : guardian.co.tt

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…Kamla refers Jack to Anand
PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday said she has seen a video in which Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner is alleged to have urged Caribbean Football Union (CFU) delegates, at a meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain on May 11, to accept gifts from then FIFA presidential candidate Mohammed bin Hamman.

…Police still probing Jack

12 thoughts on “PNM, COP on Jack video: PM must address issue now”

  1. October 13, 2011

    Jack offers advice on accepting US$40,000 ‘gifts’
    An English newspaper, The Telegraph, has got hold of a tape which it has interpreted as showing Works Minister Jack Warner offering advice on gifts to Caribbean Football Union officials at a conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port of Spain, in May.

    Jack hits ‘Swiss’ plot
    WORKS and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner yesterday alleged a FIFA plot against Caribbean football, in reply to the release of a video of him urging Caribbean Football Union (CFU) delegates to take a gift from Mohammed bin Hammam.

    Warner: Put a value on it and give the countries
    “Because I don’t want him to even remotely appear that anyone has any obligation for your vote because of what gifts you have given them, and he fully accepted that. “I said to him also I would not even mention it but I will give it to them before you leave, because Jack Warner [inaudible] the next thing you know Jack Warner keeps everything.

    Jack: It’s my voice
    Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner admitted yesterday that the voice on an exclusive video posted on the Internet by the Telegraph newspaper in London was his voice. In the video, Warner urged fellow Caribbean officials to accept US$40,000 cash gifts from Mohamed bin Hammam, a former presidential candidate for world football governing body FIFA. Warner was at the time speaking at a meeting of the Caribbean Football Union on May 11 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain, in the run-up to FIFA’s presidential elections. The gifts were an alleged payment for Caribbean Football Union (CFU) members to support bin Hammam’s candidacy.

  2. A question for mr. warner,do you think you are innocent?if not will you resign as government minister if you think you are guilty?but i guess you dont think mr. warner ,you just act.well keep on acting..

  3. Well I’ll be …Here we have folks ,attempting to get political milage from this ? Don’t we hate it when desperate politicians-both in and out of power-attempt to pull the wool over the people’s collective eyes.
    Hey you unmentionable T&T die hards,for the record,you guys have a better chance in seeing Patrick Manning, visit the San Fernando , or POS Hospital ,for his next medical check up,or better yet, some significant shift on the unemployment radar,with the typically selfish greedy private sector being spurred into action , within the next two years of de reign of ‘Her Majesty Queen K,’ and here government.
    Now since you know dat both ain’t happening any time soon, den leave this stupid distraction business alone, will you? On the question on our former Teacher, turned successful businessman/ political Queen maker,I told some ‘oh dem jokers,’dat they underestimate Uncle Jack Warner, much to their own peril.
    If the pro PNM pit-bulls , could not convict ,and jail Basdeo Panday ,for his theft of the people’s money ,while in power re the airport scandal , and CLICO ponzi scheme that ensure his two daughters acquire a full education at fleeced investors expense, or better yet, the UNC morphed into PP- even with all their media posturing , pre election braying -likewise cannot touch Patrick Manning , to date , for anything tangible ,over the past 40 years he held political sway, then why some ,for a moment think ,any over zealous creature, can trap Uncle Jack, especially ,when in so doing, the house of cards ,with the soubriquet of de PP government,would come crashing down as well, for all the world to see?
    Tell you what ,as part of my national service,I am on the verge of packing up my foreign doggy bag, and will return home ,to give out lessons, either at UWI , or any such higher,educational institution-NOT ONLY-on how politics is conducted in T&T,but the finer intricacies of our craft, across the wider global village,as too many of my people , just don’t have a clue.

  4. In any country where integrity in public affairs was a value, Warner would be gone, stepped down of his own volition, or fired summarily by the Prime Ministwr. They we are still dancing around the issue is testimony to who we really ate as a people.

  5. Fifa is one of the most corrupt organisations on the planet. Jack was simply playing his role as Vice President. Due to the nature of this organisation and knowing that he is no longer a member means that the government or police cannot touch Jack even with a long pole. First it has to be proven that this is bribe money, secondly did the people involve accept the bribe, third are there a specific complaint against Jack by FIFA or those accepting the bribe.. Just producing a video with his voice does not say much. Someone actually have to come forward and say this man committed an offence before the justice system can move forward. I would say Linda is a good candidate for that, the Linda versus Jack case would be one for the history books. Just do it Linda.

    1. mamoo said, “Fifa is one of the most corrupt organisations on the planet.”
      Me think it’s de ICC mamboo , don’t you , with all dem corrupt ,ball tampering, blokes, from South Asian, unmentionable quarters,and the immoral ,European creatures that hijacked the cricketing establishment,thus making the game we once adored ,almost unwatchable/ unpallatable?

      http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Prosecutors-say-corruption-rife-in-world-cricket

      Tell you what , if one oh dem numerous greedy , crooked local business blokes ,were to pay me 5 million bucks, I could not- after Sir Garfield Sobers of course -name one cricketer of worth, since the retirement of de greatest / most exciting player of all time ,in our national hero , a la ,Prince Brin Lara . Go figure!

      Did I hear you well mamboo, when you said , “Due to the nature of this organisation and knowing that he is no longer a member means that the government or police cannot touch Jack even with a long pole?
      Now folks you see , why parents who deprived kids from acquiring an education should not only be skinned alive , burned at the stake , but all their asset frozen , and their eventual $TT3000 per month, be given away to more deserving others?
      The last time we checked , were FIFA official, given diplomatic immunities, like foreign was done for embassy officials in service of their country?
      Can’t help but agree with Madame L, that it’s time to blow dis house made of straw ,or preferably sticks ,down to de ground, den catch , and cook in burning oil, all dem squealing ,little piglets , boars, and sows , where applicable, hmmmmm?
      Ah but these , culturally driven ,corporate thugs, it just don’t matter what the activities they indulge in, ehhh.

      http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/world/asia/11cricket.html

      In short, Wall Street ,ex hedge fund manager , cricket , politic], same difference. No wonder mamboo, is rooting for Uncle Jack, yes?

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203914304576627191081876286.html

      Now for the record Madam L, I could care less ,as to what Uncle Jack did in his run up to NATIONAL political power for dat’s gullible t&t voters problem,not ours,but I will personally release the guillotine on his neck , for any criminal malfeasance, committed , over the past two years he held the portfolio as Minister of Works,so long as the next person in line to get similar treatment , is Papa Baseo Panday, aka T&T Nehru modern day , reincarnation.

  6. According to today’s Express, the police have been investigating Jack Warner “quietly”. What a contrast to all those dreadlocked and angry looking young men from the East Port of Spain area, who were arrested quite publicly, accused of major crimes for which they do not have the equipment, illegal bunkering for example, and then freed even while videos of them alegedly committing crimes were being released.
    A quiet investigation that reaches the papaers, is an oxymoron, an attempt, methinks, that allows the Police Commissioner to cover his butt, since the London papers,who ent fraid Kamla, Jack or Gibbs are doing the work of the TTPS.
    This is a cancer on our body politic, a carbuncle, suppurating on the fair face of this beautiful land.
    It must be excised before we all fall down due to corruption. The PP people came in to power trumpeting the corruption of Mr. Manning, for which they could produce no evidence after months of searching; yet here is corruption staring them in the face, published internationally, and yet we do nothing.Whatever happened to our monetary laws? Our ethics in public affairs?

    We are in bed with an international viper, whose money makes him think everything is for sale. This makes the PP party/coalition his whore, since it does his bidding, for money.
    “Investigating quietly,” my aunt Fanny.

    1. “We are in bed with an international viper, whose money makes him think everything is for sale..”

      Linda if you were compare what Mr. Warner has accomplished in comparisson to what you have accomplished, I think you will be left at the bottom easily.

      The Brits do not like Mr. Warner since they were upstage by this lone black man in their bid to host FIFA. Since that time they have sought to humiliate him and cast aspersions on his character.

      Here you are following the former colonialist in condemning a son of this soil. Since when does the Brits have any right over a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago? You go so far as to call the man a viper. I dare you to go his constituents and say that he is a viper to their face.

      As far as I know Mr. Warner has stepped down from FIFA and any allegations against him does not hold merit. However in your world Linda if a man does a thousand good and ONE wrong he is viper. Where do you and your kind get off on attacking people like Warner who despite making some mistakes has done more for the betterment of T&T than anyone I know.

      By his influence South Africa had the world cup of soccer, the first African nation to do so. By his influence Trinidad being the smallest island to ever go to the World Cup of Soccer. By his influence thousands of people in Trinidad have better roads in record time and under cost.

      Seriously Linda do you think Mr. Warner would crumble and die if he is no longer in politics? Does he need the money? NO. Does he need power? NO. He is only on the political stage to improve the roads, drainage and other means of transportation for the betterment of the nation. And he is well respected by citizens as a performer.

      So please Linda take your “colonial brains” and flush it down the toilet and leave uncle Jack alone.

    2. Manning chose the present AG after rejecting several nominees. It seems that this AG is being politically influenced by his political leanings,while pretending to be impartial.This office is not as independent as it should be, but one has to remember the context where integrity is seldom in play no matter the political organisation or office: T&T.

  7. Mamoo continues to exhibit that primate ignorance that is inherrent in those who knows and understand very little, but knows not that he konows and understand very little. So he continues to display this incapacity to grasp anything that requires understanding beyond its surface apearance.

    Let’s see. There is a video of a senior member of the T&T Government, while in an official postion in a World Organization, engaged in inciting his regional collegues to accept bribes for their votes on issues before that organization. The intellectual mind will immediately understand the implications this kind of behaviour portends. The question that immediately comes to such a mind is, given the lack of integrity on display from this individual while in one official capacity, can he be trusted to behave differently in his current official position? That is a natural question that comes with understanding that the behaviour and attidudes one brings to an official position, can in no way be adjugded to be organizational or geographical specific. If one is willing to take bribes in one’s official capacity in FIFA, then it is valid to ponder whether one will not do the same in ones official capacity as a minister of Government.

    The reasoning of Mamoo is suggestive of a kind of ignorance that is not only appalling, it is downright nauseous. The internet has allowed us to discover some amazing things and information. And none is more valuable than the annonymity that allows people to freely express their backward and primitive understandings, under some form of psychotropic illusion that it will be interpreted as an exhibition of intelligence.

    I would scold my third grade nieces and nephews if they brought that kind of understanding to an examination of this issue.But as they say, where ignorance is bliss tis folly to be wise. Mamoo has proven the value in that observation.

    1. “Let’s see. There is a video of a senior member of the T&T Government, while in an official postion in a World Organization, engaged in inciting his regional collegues to accept bribes for their votes on issues before that organization.”

      Let us see a political party in Trinidad aptly name PNM hired a known terrorist organisation to help them win elections from the UNC. People were told to not vote UNC or else. The PNM won that elections and in exchange that terrorist organisation recieve millions of dollars in URP, CEPEP contracts along with quarries and land. What followed was kidnapping, murder and mayhem.

      Where were you Mr. Williams when all of this was happening?
      How many people were affected in Trinidad by that incident in FIFA??? And let me tell you Mr. Williams the head of FIFA deserved to be kicked out because of his history of corruption, instead a black man was made the fall guy….Aided and abetted by you and a person name Linda. Shame on both of you…

  8. Well , I’ll be …. , and ‘wonders never cease,’ as de wisest woman dat ever lived, would often say.I for one , never thought in dis lifetime, I would live to see so many folks from usually selfish , uncaring ‘South Asian/ European adoring nation,’ particularly high end members in dis her present regime ,would fight each other down like ravenous , sexually over excited ,stray dogs ,to conveniently defend de character of a rivaling member of ‘kinky headed,big butt tribe, in la Trinity.

    Seriously , folks let us not cry in our ‘Afrikan Black Sun God’s’face , but simply thank him for tender mercies, for this must be a manifestation ,that we are certainly making progress in finally evolving into a cohesive people ,and by extension nation, ennnt?
    Shame on dem mischievous /destructive commentators,who would still like to label our culturally sophisticated brothers and sisters ,that presently rule’s both the economic, and political roost, as ungrateful, selfish blokes, only obsessed with protecting their private fiefdoms, and or , furthering their own ,narrow interest, at the expense of de other.

    A word of caution to fellow bloggers , who smells blood. Please note for de record that , our cross collection of catch tail , low end peoples , and the elites that control dem, whose general characteristics are that they could care less ‘if Good Friday , falls on a Monday,’ have absolutely no concern about successes for the enemies of our PP government.
    Luv country.

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