Former FIFA Powerbroker Banned For Life

Trinidadian Jack Warner, once one of the most powerful men in world soccer, has been banned from all football-related activities for life, the ethics committee of the global governing body FIFA said on Tuesday.

Warner, 72, was one of 14 soccer officials and sports marketing executives 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.

"In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, as well as other money-making schemes," it said.

Warner was found guilty of violating ethics code articles on general rules of conduct, loyalty, duty of disclosure, conflicts of interest, the offering and acceptance of gifts and of failing to collaborate with the ethics committee.

Warner is the former president of CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, a post he held from 1990 to 2011. He sat on FIFA's all-powerful executive committee for 28 years.

Source: Reuters