Football
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Ex-FIFA VP Jack Warner promises 'avalanche' of evidence, 'fears for life'

Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner has said he will provide evidence to link FIFA officials, including embattled president Sepp Blatter, to the 2010 election in Trinidad and Tobago.

Warner, who was among 14 key figures charged with corruption by U.S. authorities last week and has been declared an "international wanted person" by Interpol, made the allegations after paying for a political broadcast slot on TV in his native Trinidad.

"I will no longer keep secrets for them who actively seek to destroy the country," said Warner, who was held in jail overnight last week, but was later released on bail.

The former official also said in the address that "I reasonably actually fear for my life."

Still, a half-hour after the speech aired, Warner appeared at his Independent Liberal Party's rally held under a canopy on a residential street. At least a couple hundred people were present when Warner spoke, many of them having not seen the televised remarks.

Warner -- mopping sweat from his forehead several times -- told supporters at the rally that he will not hold back in his plan to expose scandal at FIFA.

He said he has compiled reams of documents and is delivering them to his attorneys, for them to disseminate as they see fit.

"I apologise for not disclosing my knowledge of these events before," he said. "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 also said that when he heard Blatter was stepping down, he wrote him to urge his immediate departure from FIFA: "Blatter knows why he fell. And if anyone else knows, I do."

"At the age of 73 I have no intention of allowing them to deprive me of my freedom,'' Warner, who denies any wrongdoing, said in the TV spot.

"I have compiled a comprehensive series of documents, including cheques and corroborated statements, and have placed them in different and respected hands.

"These documents detail my knowledge in the following matters: the link between FIFA, its funding and me; the links between FIFA, its funding and the United National Congress," he said.

"These documents also deal with my knowledge of certain transactions at FIFA including, but not limited to, its president Sepp Blatter.

"My lawyers, at my instruction, are making contact with law enforcement authorities both inside and outside Trinidad and Tobago in regards to the statements I have made."

New reports have stated that the FBI are including the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in the scope of their wider investigations into FIFA, and that Blatter -- who announced on Tuesday he is to step down as FIFA president -- also is being investigated.

Blatter made the announcement of his planned resignation just days after winning re-election to an unprecedented fifth term at the helm of football's governing body. He said a special election would be held between December 2015 and March 2016 to appoint his successor.

The U.S. launched a federal investigation into corruption in world football last week, issuing indictments against 14 current or former officials on May 27, but the charges are unrelated to the two tournaments.

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