ttgapers.com

FIFA vice-president Jack Warner had an unusual response to a series done by myself in the Daily Express which looked critically at the ethics of Warner's joint role as football administrator for FIFA and the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) and businessman that appeared to have overlapped in the case of Trinidad and Tobago's World Cup match tickets.

By Lisana Liburd



Warner began by saying that I (Lasana Liburd) attended Arima Government Secondary where the principal and vice-principal were both Warners, while his son, Daryan, suggested that I was actually being educated by a third Warner.



His opening set the tone of his press conference yesterday.



I never attended Arima Government Secondary nor was I ever taught by a Warner. For the record, I did O-Levels at St Mary's College before writing A-Levels at Arima Senior Comprehensive.



Not that I understand what my schooling has to do with Simpaul Travel and its deal for World Cup tickets, which will cost Trinidad and Tobago fans $30,000 each.



Warner also suggested that I was in the service of the ruling PNM party as "a hatchet man" and made a baseless accusation that I had co-authored and am billed to serialise for the Daily Express a book with English writer Andrew Jennings.



More importantly, however, it had nothing to do with the issue at hand.



Warner, who offered just over five minutes for questions by reporters, was not as unambiguous when he spoke about the allocation of World Cup tickets meant for Trinidad and Tobago and his dual role within Simpaul and the TTFF.



Warner admitted that he owned Simpaul Travel, which he bought in 1992, and that they purchased the rights to act as the TTFF's official and "exclusive" travel agent.



However, Warner saw no conflict of interest despite his role within both organisations and even claimed that it was a bonus to both parties.



After confirming that Simpaul had exclusive rights to TTFF's ticket allotment, though, Warner and his son and company director, Daryan, then said other companies were free to "mirror" their packages if they chose.



The catch was that these tickets must be bought from Simpaul rather than the TTFF as Anthony Harford of All Sport Promotions and Dr Nigel Camacho of the Trini Posse told the Daily Express.



The question about how many tickets were allocated to the T&TFF was another ticklish issue.



The Australian Football Federation announced to its football fans that it received 8,500 tickets from FIFA and those were sold on December 20 from TT$287 for an individual ticket to TT$2,443 for a package of three Category One tickets.