Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner has resigned as Trinidad and Tobago’s national security minister, two days after a regional football group’s ethics panel accused him and another official of fraud.
In a brief statement on Sunday night, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said that Warner offered to resign from her Cabinet and that she accepted his decision.
“I wish to thank Mr. Warner for his service to the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago,” Persad-Bissessar said, adding that she had advised Trinidad’s governor general to appoint another legislator to lead the security ministry.
Warner’s resignation came shortly after an ethics panel of the Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football, known as CONCACAF, released a report charging that Warner and a former secretary general of the group enriched themselves through fraud during their terms with the organization.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Dominic Kane said that for more than 20 years Warner had been hounded by bribery allegations, but this time it cost him his main job. He added that Warner played a pivotal role in the sports world.
“In the contest for who would stage football’s biggest competition, he decided where his confederation’s votes went, making him a kingmaker,” Kane said.
Warner has repeatedly dismissed the various allegations against him and denies any wrongdoing. He could not immediately be reached for comment. He remains a member of Parliament.
Warner resigned as CONCACAF president in June 2011 after a former secretary general of the regional body accused him of attempting to bribe Caribbean delegates with $40,000 each to vote for the then-Asian confederation head Mohamed bin Hammam in the election for president of FIFA. Warner also gave up his powerful position on FIFA’s executive committee.
Read more: AlJazeera
