Jack Warner, how I underestimated you.
Some weeks ago, your columnist argued the Caribbean kingpin had fizzled in his campaign of revenge on FIFA and its president Sepp Blatter.
At the time, at least, I was right.
Warner had come up short with his allegation that he’d been given World Cup TV rights for the princely sum of $1 in return for being a staunch Blatter ally.
There simply appeared to be no evidence – apart from the word of former FIFA general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen.
FIFA, for its part, denied anything untoward had gone on.
It also maintained, crucially, that all TV rights deals went through the check and balances of its various committees and boards.
There would be no investigation. Blatter was untouchable.
But now Warner has come good. A handwritten note, made out to Warner, purportedly written and signed by Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s current general secretary, has been published on the website of British investigative journalist Andrew Jennings, ironically Warner’s longtime bete noire.
How it came into his possession is unknown but it is explosive and directly contradicts the statements made by FIFA earlier this month when Warner’s rights-for-$1 allegation first surfaced.
“Jack, here is the agreement signed by the P [President Sepp Blatter],” it reads. “This deal has not been through all normal boards or committees so I’m asking to make no publicity on it for the time being. Kind regards, Jerome.”
All FIFA will say in response, tellingly, is that the note, which came bundled with the rights agreement, “seems to be authentic but we cannot confirm that” and “Blatter has the right to sign contracts which can be presented to the executive committee or the relevant committee”.
The key word here is “can”.
Not everything, then, goes to the committees for approval. Just as the spontaneous $1 million donation the president gave to CONCACAF in May 2011 never went to anyone for approval either.
All of which confirms Blatter runs FIFA like his personal empire. Is it any wonder FIFA is called “MaFIFA” by its critics?
There really is no oxygen for argument. Short of Valcke’s and Blatter’s immediate resignation, the matter warrants a full ethics committee investigation because, as Jennings points out, it lays “Blatter and Valcke open to allegations of defrauding FIFA”.
The problem is Valcke himself is empowered to refer cases to the “eth-co” and by doing so he’d potentially be hanging himself along with his master, Blatter.
He’s shown a willingness to turn the other cheek in the past.
Valcke, you’ll remember, staunchly refused to refer to collar executive committee member Chuck Blazer, who was on the FBI’s radar over his financial affairs.
But as ChangeFIFA’s general counsel David Larkin pointed out last September, Article 14 of the FIFA Code of Ethics stipulates “any evidence of violations of conduct” comes under Valcke’s purview and the general secretary is obligated to “report it to the competent body”.
Valcke declined to take the Blazer matter to the eth-co because of lack of “sufficiently corroborating evidence”, even though there is nothing in the statutes that says “sufficiently corroborating evidence” is required.
Not required or not, this new note with Valcke’s signature on it is a compelling piece of paper. A smoking gun.
It could bring down FIFA as we know it. All the more reason, then, for Valcke to sit on his hands and try to do ride it out.
The football fans of the world will not allow that to pass.
(Ed. Note: On the home front, FIFA President Sepp Blatter declared complete “solidarity” with our own FFB President Dr. Bertie Chimilio during his visit to Belize in April of last year. With FFB elections due on March 15, the question now is, will the FFB President first give the “football family” an account of the additional US $550,000 purportedly received from FIFA over the past year, in addition to the annual FAP disbursement of US $250,000? Or is it “none of their business”?)