Attorney General Anand Ramlogan is calling on Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner to co-operate with any investigation on allegations of corruption while serving as Fifa vice-president. Ramlogan said Warner’s matters were affecting the image of T&T. He made the statement yesterday in response to questions from reporters on the matter during yesterday’s Senate tea-break in the Parliament building.
That position differed from an earlier one adopted by Ramlogan in 2011 when Warner was a cabinet minister. The UK Daily Telegraph alleges Warner’s Port-of-Spain office appears as the contact address on an invoice to a Qatari company asking for US$1.2 million to be paid to the then vice-president of Fifa. Ramlogan said he read “with great interest the international expose concerning the very serious and grave allegation about corruption levelled against Warner.”
He noted that the allegations predated Warner’s assumption of Cabinet office in 2010. Ramlogan said yesterday Warner “should co-operate with this investigation to vindicate his reputation.” Noting that Warner avoided appearing before the Fifa ethics committee, the AG said “it is time that he submits himself to a full and comprehensive inquiry and probe in this matter.”
Ramlogan said: “Bravado and arrogance will not cut it for this. This is now a matter of international concern. It is sullying Trinidad and Tobago’s international image and reputation.” In seeking to explain, Ramlogan indicated that the Warner corruption allegation was “a matter that has clearly gone beyond our borders and it concerns not just a former minister but a serving MP.”
Ramlogan said Warner was the leader of a political party with aspirations to be the prime minister of the country. The AG said: “The implications and ramifications of that story runs quite deep and is far- reaching.” He insisted that Warner “owes the country and the public the duty which he has to submit himself to the investigation and co-operate fully.” Warner declined comment when contacted yesterday.