WARNER SEH HIM SEND MINISTER WIFE GUH LAW SCHOOL…SHE SEH NO

The Leader of Government Business in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament Dr Roodal Moonilal has confirmed that his wife studied law in Britain, but denied that the embattled former FIFA vice president Austin Jack Warner had contributed financially to her studies.

Warner, 72, speaking at a political meeting here earlier this week, said he had provided funds to Moonilal to finance his wife studies in London.

Warner, a former Cabinet colleague of Moonilal when they both served in the coalition People’s Partnership Government, said he intends to link FIFA to the 2010 general elections in Trinidad and Tobago.

Warner is one of 14 present and former FIFA officials that the US Justice Department alleges accepted bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than US$150 million over a 24-year period.

Warner had also told supporters of his Independent Liberal Party (ILP) that despite fearing for his life, “I will no longer keep secrets for them who actively seek to destroy the country.”

Warner said he has evidence to show he paid for Moonilal’s wife to study in London, that he paid three months’ rent for a Santa Margarita house for Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar; and he has copies of cheques, one totalling TT$$350,000, that he gave to Ashworth Jack, leader of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP).

“Not even death will stop the avalanche that is coming… The die is cast. There can be no turning back. Let the chips fall where they fall”, Warner said.

Prime Minister Persad Bissessar has in the past stoutly denied ever benefiting from Warner’s finances and Moonilal, the housing minister, told the Trinidad Express newspaper that while his wife had studied law in Britain, it was not in London.

“My wife never studied in London, so is somebody wife he gave a scholarship to,” he told the newspaper, adding that his wife studied in Stoke, England.

“She did so with a loan for which I paid back every dollar,” he said, insisting that Warner never contributed to the loan payments.

“He is now a desperate and paranoid man, he is now hanging on at the edge of a cliff by his nail [and] he wants to pull any and everybody down with him.

“The UNC as a political party has never been financed by Jack Warner. Mr Warner was a UNC candidate, he may have financed himself from monies from whichever source he has, but the party is quite distant from him. He has never financed the party at all,” said Moonilal.

Moonilal, meanwhile, urged Warner to cooperate fully with the US Department of Justice and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

“I am not concerned about Jack’s personal attack on my family; I am not concerned about my image. I am concerned about the international image and the standing of my country, Trinidad and Tobago.”

Attorney General Garvin Nicholas, in the meantime, called on Warner to provide any evidence of wrongdoing to the police.

“I am not prepared to comment on accusations made on a political platform save to say that if Mr Warner has evidence of wrongdoing on the part of anyone, he should take said evidence to the police and, where relevant, the Integrity Commission, for investigation and determination of these matters.

“Merely making threats of releasing evidence is a mechanism that has been used in the past to create sensational headlines and is an effective diversion technique,” Nicholas said.

Legal Affairs Minister, Prakash Ramadhar, the leader of the Congress of the People (COP) — the second biggest partner in the coalition — has also urged Warner to provide the evidence.

“For too long we, the people of Trinidad and Tobago, have endured the self-serving mind games meted out by Mr Austin Jack’ Warner,” Ramadhar said in a statement.

“We, the COP, will not be quiet while Mr Warner attempts to hold the democracy of our precious country to ransom. The country is entitled to and deserves truth and facts.

“Mr Warner, if you have evidence, you must bring it now. It is unacceptable for you to once again say ‘not tonight’. Any delay in producing facts to prove your allegations will demonstrate that you are promoting your own self-interest and not the interest of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. We deserve better,” Ramadhar added.