Trial into Jack Warner’s bribery allegations would have seen him banned from football – Fifa Ethics Committee member

FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner

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A member of the Fifa Ethics Committee has stated any investigation into Jack Warner’s alleged bribery charges would have seen him banned from any involvement in football.

Warner resigned as vice-president of Fifa and president of the Concacaf federation on Monday and all charges against him were dropped.

However, Sondre Kaafjord, of the Fifa Ethics Committee, is adamant that had Warner not resigned, he would have been booted out of the game anyway.

He told SkySports:“The result is the same as if he had been banned by us – he’s out of football.

“If we had sentenced him or banned him the result would have been just the same.

“If Warner were to take part in football again, the case will be reopened immediately.”

The case into the allegations of bribery against former Fifa presidential candidate Mohammad Bin Hammam will also continue, with Warner as a witness in the case.

Kaafjord continued: “We concluded on May 29 that there was enough reason to suspend him for 30 days.

“It means that there was a probability that he was guilty.

“But in judicial language, until you are actually found guilty you are presumed to be innocent. That is a basic principle of law.

“We are not entitled to go further with the investigation according to Swiss law – if he is not a member of the association any more we have no right to go further.

“But the investigation will continue because Mr Bin Hammam is part of the same case and Mr Warner has said he will be a witness in the Bin Hammam case.”

The Ethics Committee believes there is evidence that Bin Hammam paid money to people within the Caribbean Football Union while he was campaigning for the Fifa presidency and Warner allowed for these payments to occur.

“The question is about what happened in Trinidad on May 10 and 11,” Kaafjord added. “They were accused of giving envelopes with dollars to participants.”