TRINIDAD - No intention of resigning, says Warner

 PORT-OF-SPAIN (CMC):

Embattled National Security Minister Austin 'Jack' Warner says he has no intention of resigning from his Cabinet post, accusing his detractors of trying to prevent the coalition People's Partnership government of successfully dealing with the crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago.

Speaking at a public meeting of the ruling United National Congress in Barataria along the east-west corridor on Monday night, Warner also made reference to international media reports that he is implicated in a probe being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into the financial affairs of the world football governing body, FIFA, of which he was once its powerful vice-president.

Opposition politicians have intensified their calls for Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar to dismiss Warner, who is also chairman of the ruling party, from her Cabinet, after the international news agency, Reuters published the story about the FBI probe.

Reuters News Service, in an exclusive report late last month, said that an FBI probe into alleged corruption in international soccer has recently intensified after investigators persuaded a key party to be a cooperating witness, US law-enforcement sources said.

The news agency quoted the sources as saying that Daryan Warner, the son of the national security minister, is assisting the probe, but could not say who might be charged, or when.