News Digest

Ex-FIFA vice-president Warner leaves jail in ambulance

Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner left a Trinidad jail by ambulance Thursday, a day after he was charged in a U.S. corruption case that has led to the arrests of more than a dozen international soccer officials and businessmen. Judicial officer Ibrahim Ali said Warner complained of exhaustion and was not able to face questions from reporters gathered for several hours outside the jail in this twin-island Caribbean nation off the coast of Venezuela. But a short while later, Warner donned a cap and a garland of flowers to give a lengthy, defiant speech before a crowd of raucous supporters in the district he represents as an opposition member of Parliament.

If I have been thiefing FIFA money for 30 years, who give me the money? How come he is not charged? Why only persons from Third World countries have been charged?

Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner

Warner surrendered to authorities Wednesday and was granted a $395,000 bond but spent the night in jail. He faces eight counts in the U.S., including conspiracy to defraud and to engage in racketeering. He has not entered a plea and is expected to appear in court in July. A judge ordered Warner to surrender his passport and report to police twice a week. Warner was forced out of FIFA in 2011 over a bribery scandal but has denied any wrongdoing.