Warner promises to drag Blatter down with him

Boasting about what a good time he had in jail overnight while his bail application was processed, former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner (picture) told reporters and supporters at a meeting of his political party in Trinidad & Tobago that “it’s times like now, you know who your friends are.”

Warner was one of the FIFA officials indicted in a US probe of alleged corruption at the football governing body. The charges were announced on Wednesday, two days before the FIFA presidential election.

Warner promised to reveal information about Blatter and Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, saying since she let him go to jail, “As of tonight, the gloves are off.”

Warner is a former national security minister of Persad-Bissessar’s Cabinet.

“If I have been in FIFA for 30 years and I have been thieving all the money, who give me the money?” Warner asked his supporters.

After one blurted out, “Blatter!” Warner asked, “And why it is he ain’t charged?”

Warner said he knows nothing of the charges filed against him and complained that he was being “charged by the US for crimes committed in Zurich”. He suggested the US is bitter for losing its bid to host the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. BLOOMBERG