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Warner decides not to start 'football tsunami'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/9681285
Reuters, Sunday June 5 2011
By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar
CHAGUANAS, Trinidad, June 5 (Reuters) - Suspended FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has backed down for legal reasons from his threat to reveal the content of emails with the ruling body's president Sepp Blatter.
Warner had promised a "football tsunami" would follow his suspension by FIFA's Ethics committee last week but on Sunday he produced little more than a gentle Caribbean breeze.
In a brief speech in his constituency on Sunday, Warner, also Ministers of Works and Transport for Trinidad and Tobago, reiterated his innocence but said he would not be making public the emails after discussions with his lawyers.
"I had plans to speak to you today a bit more on this matter but the best legal advice I received has suggested that I do not do so at this point in time and that advice I am going to respect," he told supporters from his party at a public rally.
Warner, also president of CONCACAF, the regional body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has been suspended pending a full investigation by FIFA into allegations that bribery took place at a meeting he organised with Mohammed Bin Hammam.
The meeting in Trinidad involving Bin Hammam, the head of the Asian Football Confederation, was related to the Qatari's presidential election campaign against Blatter.
"I haven't thieved anything, I haven't given anybody anything and I don't know what the hullaballoo is all about," Warner said.
Responding to calls by one of the major partners in the coalition government and by the opposition for him to step down pending FIFA's investigations into the allegations, Warner said his FIFA position never interfered with his government work.
But he told supporters, "if it comes to a choice between FIFA and you, the choice is you."
Bin Hammam has also been suspended from all football activities and, like Warner, has denied any wrongdoing.
Blatter was re-elected as FIFA president last week at a congress overshadowed by bribery and corruption allegations.
(Reporting by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar in Chaguanas; writing by Simon Evans in Dallas, editing by Ed Osmond, To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/9681285
Reuters, Sunday June 5 2011
By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar
CHAGUANAS, Trinidad, June 5 (Reuters) - Suspended FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has backed down for legal reasons from his threat to reveal the content of emails with the ruling body's president Sepp Blatter.
Warner had promised a "football tsunami" would follow his suspension by FIFA's Ethics committee last week but on Sunday he produced little more than a gentle Caribbean breeze.
In a brief speech in his constituency on Sunday, Warner, also Ministers of Works and Transport for Trinidad and Tobago, reiterated his innocence but said he would not be making public the emails after discussions with his lawyers.
"I had plans to speak to you today a bit more on this matter but the best legal advice I received has suggested that I do not do so at this point in time and that advice I am going to respect," he told supporters from his party at a public rally.
Warner, also president of CONCACAF, the regional body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has been suspended pending a full investigation by FIFA into allegations that bribery took place at a meeting he organised with Mohammed Bin Hammam.
The meeting in Trinidad involving Bin Hammam, the head of the Asian Football Confederation, was related to the Qatari's presidential election campaign against Blatter.
"I haven't thieved anything, I haven't given anybody anything and I don't know what the hullaballoo is all about," Warner said.
Responding to calls by one of the major partners in the coalition government and by the opposition for him to step down pending FIFA's investigations into the allegations, Warner said his FIFA position never interfered with his government work.
But he told supporters, "if it comes to a choice between FIFA and you, the choice is you."
Bin Hammam has also been suspended from all football activities and, like Warner, has denied any wrongdoing.
Blatter was re-elected as FIFA president last week at a congress overshadowed by bribery and corruption allegations.
(Reporting by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar in Chaguanas; writing by Simon Evans in Dallas, editing by Ed Osmond, To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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