a1701: Haiti and FIFA vote stealing (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

(Daily Mail) (UK) (17 April 02)


How Blatter and his friends in the Caribbean stole a country's vote with
its delegate trapped on the other side of the world

No Haitian official was there but, when the country's name was called, a
Trinidadian voice said 'present.'

Sportsmail today provides irrefutable evidence that the selection of Sepp
Blatter as FIFA president in 1998 was rotten to the core. The fraud not
only involved the buying of votes in Africa, as previously exposed by
Sportsmail, but also extended to stealing votes in the Caribbean. In the
latest development in the story that has shocked football, ANDREW JENNINGS
reveals that a delegate was prevented from attending the FIFA congress and
an imposter voted for Blatter.

        The election officials walked up and down the rows of FIFA
delegates at the Palais des Congres in Paris in June 1998, handing out
voting forms for the presidential election.
         Michel Zen-Ruffinen, FIFA general secretary, called out the names
of each country in turn: 'Guam, Guinea, Guyana ...'
         When he called out 'Haiti', instead of the expected silence from
an empty seat, a response of 'Present' surprisingly came back in a strong
English-Caribbean accent.
         No-one was more shocked than the legitimate Haitian delegate to
the Paris congress, Dr Jean-Marie Kyss, the French-speaking president of
Haiti's football federation.
         Dr Kyss was interviewed at his clinic in the squalid slums of the
Haitian capital, Port au Prince, where he delivers the babies of
impoverished shantytown mothers.
         'I was elected president in 1994, against the wishes of the Haiti
sports minister,' he said. 'Then we had years of battling with him for
control of the national stadium, which we owned.
         'The government, knowing how much money went through the
turnstiles, regularly sent police and "security" thugs to try to steal it.'

         When Dr Kyss and his wife left for the airport in June1998 to
attend the crucial FIFA congress which would choose between Sepp Blatter
and Sweden's Lennart Johansson as president, they were told by immigration
officials that they could not leave the country.
         'I asked, "Have I committed any crime? Have I violated any law?".
They said they were acting under orders from the sports minister and took
my passport away.'
         From the airport, Dr Kyss called officials of CONCACAF, the
Caribbean and North American soccer confederation, already in Paris. 'I
spoke to secretary Chuck Blazer and president Jack Warner. I explained to
Mr Warner what had happened and told him that Haiti would not be
represented.
         'FIFA's rules do not allow proxy voting - but I did not want to
mandate anyone to sit in our seat in Paris. That empty chair symbolised the
interference of our government in our sport. It was our gesture of
defiance. It sent a powerful message to the world.'
         Dr Kyss was shocked to learn that his vote had been stolen. FIFA's
records show that a Mr Neville Ferguson represented Haiti in Paris. Far
from being a Haitian, he is in fact special assistant to Warner in their
home country, Trinidad.
         Speaking last week, Dr Kyss said: 'This is the first I've heard of
this. I was never sent any information about what happened in Paris. I feel
bad about it. I will raise the matter with the Haiti federation.'
         Ferguson was contacted and asked to explain. He did not deny the
allegations, but said: 'Go and ask the man in Haiti and don't call me at
home again.'
         He then hung up and switched on his answering machine.
         It is inconceivable that Ferguson would get involved in such a
plot without the nod from Warner. This was not the first time a Caribbean
FIFA delegate had been replaced by an impostor. Haiti also missed FIFA's
1996 congress in Zurich.
         'The invitation did not arrive until a few days before the
congress began,' explained Dr Kyss. 'I had no time to prepare, so I phoned
CONCACAF and told them we would be absent.'
         Again, Haiti's seat was filled by an impostor, Vincy Jalal.  Dr
Kyss has never heard of her. Jalal, it can be revealed, is not a soccer
official. She is the girl-friend of Horace Burrell, president of the
Jamaican football federation.
         After Jalal responded to the 1996 FIFA roll call with the only
word she knows in French, she became known ribaldly among CONCACAF
delegates who were in on the deception as 'Ms Oui'. Neither Jalal nor
Burrell have responded to requests for explanations.
         Alongside Haiti at FIFA congresses sits the delegation from
Guyana, led by federation president Colin Klass. He declined to tell us
what he might have seen happening in 1996 and 1998.
         Klass, a Warner ultra-loyalist, may now regret that he backed up a
specious promise by his boss that FIFA would give $20 million to develop
football in Guyana. This week, Klass was due in court in Georgetown facing
a charge of criminal perjury - with a maximum penalty of seven years in
jail.
         KLASS will be free to attend this weekend's congress of CONCACAF
in Miami if cleared.  Warner aide Blazer - Blatter's choice as chairman of
FIFA's Media Committee - has banned journalists from attending the meeting.

         Klass will also be free to jaunt off to the World Cup, all
expenses paid and with sufficient tickets for his needs. Warner has
arranged for Klass to undertake 'special duties'.
         And Burrell, a loyal ally of Warner and Blatter, will sit on
FIFA's Disciplinary Committee. Burrell was also the crucial delegate who at
last year's FIFA congress in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires proposed a
motion supporting Blatter's claim that the organisation's finances were
safe in his hands.
         These allegations, following disclosures that bribes were paid to
African voters at the 1998 FIFA congress in Paris, further call into
question Blatter's fitness to lead world football.
         Those involved in the vote-rigging could face civil or criminal
action in France and Switzerland and lawyers in both countries are
investigating the possibility of launching prosecutions against Warner's
group.
         CONCACAF officials have also been approached.  Blazer brushed us
off with a one-line e-mail saying: 'I am not familiar with the allegations
you are making.'
         Jack Warner ignored all questions, although his lawyer, Karen
Pipe, told us to stop 'harassing' him or she would take 'appropriate
action'.  As the corruption allegations mount, the silence in soccer is
deafening.
         CONCACAF vice-president Alan Rothenberg, former boss of U.S.
Soccer, snarled: 'I have no interest in talking to a biased hatchet man. If
you had a shred of impartiality you would recognise the incredible
contribution made to the enormous growth of soccer on and off the field by
Sepp Blatter, Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer.'
         Blatter refuses to respond to the allegations against Warner.
         But Blatter did copy to us an e-mail he sent to his Caribbean
ally: 'Dear Jack, this is part of a never-ending story ... until we both
will be re-elected. Good luck and especially patience.'