How much is Warner worth?

PORT OF SPAIN. — Jack Warner, the football executive, political heavyweight and entrepreneur at the heart of the FIFA corruption scandal, runs a tropical business empire in his native Trinidad and Tobago. But how much is he actually worth?

Warner owns newspapers, real estate and dozens of companies in the Caribbean nation, but like his time in the halls of power of world football, the net value of his assets is shrouded in mystery and intrigue.

“I certainly do not know how much Mr Warner is worth,” said Trinidadian Attorney General Garvin Nicholas, whose office is cooperating with the US investigation into allegations of massive corruption by Warner and 13 other indicted football officials and marketing executives.

“Unless you can get to every penny, every bank account, every company that Mr Warner owns, it would be impossible to determine his net worth,” he said. Investigative journalist Camini Marajh of the Trinidad Express, who has reported on Warner for years, estimated two years ago in a series of stories that his fortune amounted to one billion Trinidadian dollars, or about $160 million.

But that did not include assets registered to Warner’s family and associates.

“He has a lot of real estate holdings, 60 companies, shell corporations. He has different assets funded with other people,” Marajh said.

“He is high up there with some of the wealthiest Trinidad and Tobago citizens.”

Several properties are registered to Warner’s wife and two sons, Daryan and Daryll, both of whom have already pleaded guilty to corruption charges and are cooperating with US investigators.

Daryan agreed to forfeit more than $1.1 million as part of his plea bargain on charges of wire fraud, money laundering and evading financial reporting laws. Warner (72), a former cabinet minister and current member of parliament, increased his fortune in tandem with his influence in the world of football, according to analysts and journalists.

The former teacher rose through the ranks of local football organisations to become a FIFA executive committee member in 1983.

He went on to become FIFA vice president and run two regional football federations, the Caribbean Football Union and the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), before being forced from all football duties amid allegations he tried to buy votes in FIFA’s 2011 election. — AFP.