Fifa’s vice president will not face investigation
By Phil ScullionFollow @PhilScullion
Fifa's vice president Jack Warner has stepped down and as a result will not face any ethics committee investigation.
Mr Warner had been facing allegations over his involvement in bribery during Mohamed bin Hammam's ultimately unsuccessful campaign to become Fifa president.
He and Mr Bin Hammam are alleged to have paid £600,000 to Caribbean football associations, and both were suspended by Fifa's ethics committee at the end of May pending the outcome of an inquiry into their conduct.
In a statement made today Fifa said: "As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained."
Mr Warner had been involved in the Fifa executive committee since 1983, but is said to be leaving Fifa to concentrate on his role as a Trinidad and Tobago cabinet minister.
During a parliamentary inquiry in May Lord Triesman, former chairman of the Football Association, gave evidence concerning four Fifa members including Jack Warner. He alleged that the four had sought bribes in return for backing England's unsuccessful 2018 world cup bid.
In a politics.co.uk comment piece James Wharton, Conservative MP for Stockton South, wrote: "Fifa politics are murky to say the least. The lack of transparency has allowed and encouraged representatives to take decisions in their own national, and sometimes personal self-interest.
The 'internal ethics committee' which is currently presiding over the cases of Jack Warner and Mr Bin Hammam has neither the independence nor the legitimacy to enforce FIFA's already flimsy code of ethics."
