LONDON —Jack Warner, the former FIFA vice president who was among 14 people indicted by the United States last week as part of an inquiry into corruption in world soccer, says he knows why the organization’s president, Sepp Blatter, announced plans to step down from soccer’s governing body.
伦敦——上周,因涉及世界足坛腐败调查而被美国起诉的十四人之一的前国际足联(FIFA)副主席杰克·沃纳(Jack Warner)说,他知道足联主席赛普·布拉特(Sepp Blatter)为什么宣布了从该足球管理机构辞职的计划。
“Blatter knows why he fell. And if anyone else knows, I do,” Mr. Warner said in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday, referring to Mr. Blatter’s decision this week to resign after 17 years at the helm of FIFA, soccer’s governing body. Mr. Warner, who said he feared for his own life, also said he had evidence linking FIFA to his country’s 2010 election.
“布拉特知道自己为什么下台。如果还有其他人知道原因,那就是我,”沃纳周三在祖国特立尼达和多巴哥谈起布拉特本周辞职的决定时表示。此前布拉特已经掌管国际足联长达17年。沃纳对自己的生命安全表示担忧,也宣称自己握有国际足联与特立尼达和多巴哥2010年选举有关联的证据。
Mr. Warner was once a close ally of Chuck Blazer, the former general secretary of Concacaf, the governing body that oversees soccer in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Mr. Blazer has admitted taking bribes from bidders seeking to host the 1998 and 2010 World Cups and is now cooperating with the American authorities. On Wednesday, a judge in New York ordered the release of a redacted version of his plea hearing in 2013.
沃纳曾是前中北美和加勒比地区足联(Concacaf)秘书长查克·布莱泽(Chuck Blazer)的亲密盟友。布莱泽已经承认在1998年和2010年世界杯申办阶段收受申办方贿赂,目前他正在配合美国当局的调查。周三,纽约的一名法官下令公布经过删节的2013年布莱泽认罪听证会文件。
Mr. Warner’s sons, Daryan and Daryll, are also cooperating with the authorities, having secretly pleaded guilty in 2013 after they tried to deposit more than $600,000 in nearly two dozen United States bank accounts in an attempt to avoid detection.
沃纳的儿子德里恩(Daryan)和达里尔(Daryll)也都在配合调查。他们于2013年秘密认罪。之前为了避免被当局发现,他们曾试图将60多万美元存入二十多个美国银行账户。
During a rambling and sometimes incoherent seven-minute television address, called “The Gloves Are Off,” Mr. Warner invoked Gandhi and sought to cast himself as a victim. In his speech, a paid political advertisement, he said he had reams of documents, including copies of checks, linking Mr. Blatter and other senior FIFA officials to an effort to manipulate a 2010 election in Trinidad and Tobago.
在一段缺乏条理、时而语无伦次的名叫“真正的对决开始了”的七分钟电视讲话中,沃纳引用甘地的话,将自己塑造成受害者。在作为付费政治广告出现的这段讲话中,他提到自己拥有包括支票复印件在内的大量文件,能证明布拉特和其他国际足联高级官员与操纵2010年特立尼达和多巴哥选举有关。
He said he had delivered his files to “respectable persons” and lawyers, and he warned that he had an “avalanche” of additional evidence.
他说他已将自己的这些文件交给了“值得尊敬的人士”和律师,同时也警告说他还有“海量”其他证据。
“I will no longer keep secrets for them who now seek to destroy the country which I love,” he said.
“我再也不会替那些现在想摧毁我所爱的国家的人们保守秘密了,”他说。
Mr. Warner’s television address came just four days after he vigorously defended himself in an online video, saying the charges against him were a conspiracy cooked up by the United States.
就在沃纳的这段电视讲话的四天前,他曾在一段网上视频中极力辩称,对他的指控是美国编造出来的阴谋。
“All this has stemmed from the failed U.S. bid to host the World Cup,” he said of the indictments then.
“这些都源自美国申办世界杯的失利,”他当时回应相关指控时称。
“I could understand the U.S. embarrassment,” Mr. Warner continued, but it is important to “take your losses like a man.”
“我理解美国失利后的尴尬,”沃纳继续说道,但很重要的一点是“你得像个男人一样接受失败”。
In the video, posted Sunday on his personal website, Facebook page and YouTube channel, he cited an article from The Onion that he said backed up his claims, apparently unaware that it was satire. He also told his supporters that he was innocent of the charges against him. “At the end of the day, all of the allegations against me shall be proven to be unfounded,” he said.
周日在他个人网站、Facebook和Youtube频道上传的视频中,他引用了一篇来自“洋葱”(The Onion)网站的文章佐证自己的观点,完全没有意识到该文章的嘲讽性质。他告诉其支持者,面对相关指控,他是清白的。“到最后,一切针对我的指控都会被证实是没有根据的,”他说。
It was not clear why FIFA would want to intervene in the country’s electoral process, and Mr. Warner did not immediately provide any evidence in the television address on Wednesday to support his claims.
国际足联会干涉特立尼达和多巴哥选举的原因尚不清楚,沃纳也未在周三的电视讲话中提供任何证据支持他此番言论。
“I apologize for not disclosing my knowledge of these events before,” Mr. Warner said, calling himself a “lone isolated soldier.” He said conditions in the jail where he was held briefly after his arrest last week had been “woeful.”
“我为之前没有公开我所了解的相关情况而道歉”,华纳说,并称自己是名“茕茕孑立的战士。”他形容上周自己被捕后所处的关押场所的条件相当“恶劣”。
He said nothing would prevent him from revealing details of the scandal. “Not even death will stop the avalanche that is coming,” he told his supporters. “The die is cast. There can be no turning back. Let the chips fall where they fall.” Paraphrasing Gandhi, he said that throughout history, tyrants have fallen in the end.
他说没有任何事情能阻止他揭露丑闻的细节。“即便是死亡也阻挡不了即将到来的狂流,”他告诉他的支持者。“骰子已经掷出。已经没有回头路了。该来的终究会来。”套用甘地(Gandhi)的话,他说,贯穿整个历史,暴君们终究会倒台。
Mr. Warner also said he felt threatened, saying, “I reasonably actually fear for my life.” Yet shortly after the speech was broadcast, he appeared at a rally for his Independent Liberal Party, and seemed resolute.
沃纳还说他感觉受到了威胁,“我事实上有理由为我的性命感到恐惧。”但在这个讲话播出之后不久,他就出现在他的独立自由党(Independent Liberal Party)的一个集会上,并且似乎很坚定。
Mr. Warner faces a raft of charges, including racketeering, bribery, wire fraud and money laundering, but he denies the accusations. In 2004, as FIFA’s executive committee was deliberating where to hold the 2010 World Cup, South Africa’s government arranged for what amounted to a $10 million bribe to Mr. Warner and others in exchange for their votes, prosecutors say.
沃纳面临着大量的指控,包括敲诈勒索,行贿,电信欺诈和洗钱,但是他否认了这些指控。检察官称,在2004年,当国际足联的执行委员会正考虑在何处举办2010年世界杯时,南非政府安排了相当于约1000万美元的贿赂,来买通沃纳和其他一些人,以换取他们的投票。
According to the indictment, when FIFA was considering which country would host the 2006 World Cup, Mr. Warner sent a relative to a Paris hotel room to collect a briefcase filled with $10,000 in cash from a South African bid committee official.
根据起诉书,在国际足联考虑2006年世界杯举办国时,沃纳派了一个亲戚到巴黎的一家酒店房间去从南非申办委员会官员那里领取了一个装着1万美元现金的公文包。
South Africa has emphatically denied giving any bribes to ensure that it would host the tournament, but news reports on Thursday said the country’s organized-crime unit had opened a preliminary investigation into the bribery accusations.
南非方面断然否认曾通过行贿来确保其主办权,但是周四的新闻报道称,该国负责处理有组织犯罪的部门已对行贿指控展开了初步调查。
The Australian police are also investigating corruption accusations in connection to the country’s bid for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, amid allegations that funds were misappropriated. The chairman of Football Federation Australia, Frank Lowy, published an open letter on Wednesday in which he cited an investigation by Concacaf showing that Mr. Warner had committed fraud and misappropriated the funds.
在资金被挪用的传闻声中,澳大利亚警方也在调查与该国申办2022年卡塔尔世界杯相关的腐败指控。澳大利亚足球联盟(Football Federation Australia)主席弗兰·克洛伊(Frank Lowy)在周三发表了一封公开信,在信中提及了Concacaf的一项调查,显示沃纳有欺诈行为,并挪用了资金。
Australian officials in recent days have been expressing their deep disappointment at losing the World Cup to Qatar, and some critics of the Qatari bid are hoping that it will lose the tournament, even as officials there insist that their bid was above reproach and that the tournament is not under threat. The sports minister of the Australian state of Victoria, John Eren, said his country could host the World Cup “tomorrow.”
澳大利亚官员近期一直在表示,他们对把世界杯主办权输给卡塔尔深感不满。卡塔尔官员则坚称,他们的申办工作无可指摘,该国的世界杯并未受到任何威胁。但针对卡塔尔申办工作的一些批评者希望它失去举办权。澳大利亚维多利亚州的体育部长约翰·艾伦(John Eren)说,他的国家“明天”就可以举办世界杯。
Elsewhere, the former England soccer captain David Beckham added his voice to those in European soccer who have grown weary of Mr. Blatter. “I hope at last we are now moving in the right direction,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC. “Some of the things that we now know happened were despicable, unacceptable and awful for the game we love so much.”
此外,前英格兰足球队队长大卫·贝克汉姆(David Beckham)也加入了批评布拉特的欧洲足球人士的行列。“我希望至少我们现在在朝正确的方向前进,”BBC引用了他的话称。“对于我们深爱的足球来说,我们现在了解到的过去的一些事情相当之卑劣、可怕,让人无法接受。”
Mr. Beckham, who rose to global stardom playing for Manchester United, was a central supporter of England’s unsuccessful bid to host the World Cup in 2018, which was awarded to Russia.
贝克汉姆在为曼彻斯特联队效力时一跃成为全球明星,他是未能成功的英格兰2018年世界杯申办活动的主要支持者,该届世界杯主办权最终被授予俄罗斯。