PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Former national security minister Austin “Jack” Warner yesterday defended his decision to resign from the coalition People’s Partnership government, saying no one could accuse him of wrongdoing while in office.
“I found that for the past four weeks there had been a concerted move to get Jack Warner and I said I have to give them the satisfaction.
“I did not resign because of any corruption or malfeasance. I did not resign because of lack of performance. I did not resign because of any racket….,” he told reporters ahead of a meeting with members of his Chaguanas West constituency.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar on Sunday night said she had accepted the resignation of her embattled senior Cabinet minister following the publication of the damning report against him by the Integrity Committee of CONCACAF, which represents soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
The report slammed as “fraudulent in their management” the conduct of the soccer confederation’s affairs by Warner and the former secretary general, American Chuck Blazer.
Warner later submitted a letter of resignation as chairman of the UNC, the biggest partner in the four-party coalition government.
Former Barbados chief justice Sir David Simmons, who headed CONCACAF’s Integrity Committee, presented the CONCACAF’s congress in Panama with the detailed report into allegations of financial mismanagement by Warner and Blazer. Neither man cooperated with the investigation.
But Warner, who quit international football at the height of yet another scandal involving him, described the report “baseless and malicious”. (CMC)