Murky waters into which SA cast its cash

SOCCER boss Jack Warner skilfully obscured how millions earmarked for “soccer development” were spent in the Caribbean.

By the time South African Football Association CEO Danny Jordaan asked Fifa’s Jérôme Valcke to release $10-million for the “Diaspora Legacy Programme” overseen by Warner, Warner had already secured $25-million in Fifa loans over a decade for a soccer “centre of excellence” in Trinidad and Tobago.

The centre, on the outskirts of the capital Port of Spain, includes a 6 000-seat football stadium, soccer training fields, a swimming pool, offices, banquet halls and a hotel.

At a congress in 1996, former Fifa president João Havelange congratulated Warner for coming up with the visionary idea. Shortly afterwards, the centre was named after Havelange.

Alarmingly, a forensic investigation into the affairs of the regional soccer body Concacaf — after Jack Warner resigned as president in 2011— could not determine exactly how all the money poured into the centre had been spent.

Likewise, little is known about how South Africa’s “donation” — or alleged bribe, according to US prosecutors — contributed towards the upliftment of soccer in the Caribbean.

“We gave the money unconditionally,” said Alec Moemi, the director-general of the Department of Sport and Recreation.

The US indictment against Warner says he “caused a substantial portion of the funds to be diverted for his personal use”, some of it laundered through a local supermarket chain.

It is evident that he spent it quickly. Asked by his associate Blazer for a share of the money as allegedly promised, Warner asked if he could pay in instalments as the money had already been spent. Blazer never got the full $1-million he was said to have been promised.

Warner this week threatened on TV to reveal information that would damage Fifa. Warner’s two sons, and Blazer, co-operated with the FBI during the probe that produced the SHREDDED: The soccer centre land Fifa believed was owned by a regional federation was in a private company’s name damming indictment on bribery and corruption in world soccer.

Concacaf set up an integrity committee investigation after the departure of Warner and Blazer. Allegations of fraud, misappropriation of funds and the breaching of fiduciary duties were levelled against the two men in the final report, presented to Concacaf in April 2013.

Describing how frustrating it had been to try to follow the money trail, the report said: “Warner had complete control over all of the Concacaf computers, documents and other evidence that existed in Trinidad and Tobago, but he appears to have either destroyed such evidence or was unwilling to provide it to the committee.”

Concacaf made monthly payments to accounts controlled by Warner to subsidise the centre of excellence but there was scant oversight.

Possibly the most embarrassing finding for Fifa was to discover that it had been duped into believing the centre of excellence was owned by Concacaf when in fact the land was owned by Warner’s companies.

Concacaf general secretary Enrique Sanz told the committee that he met Warner in September 2012.

They visited the office he used as president of the federation. “Sanz observed that the office was being cleaned for a new tenant and that document shredding was taking place,” said the report.