Innocent until proven guilty - PM Persad-Bissessar stands by Warner until facts are delivered

PORT-OF-Spain (CMC):

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, under pressure to dismiss her National Security Minister Austin 'Jack' Warner amid allegations that he may be implicated in a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe involving soccer's global governing body, said she still had no official information from the United States (US) on the matter.

"I am committed to upholding the high ethical standards which the public legitimately and rightly expects of my government, but I am equally mindful that the commitment to the rule of law requires balance and respect for the presumption of innocence," she said in a statement.

"As head of the government, I would make an informed decision in this matter once the facts are established," she added.

Reuters News Service, in an exclusive report Wednesday, 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.

Reuters quoted the sources as saying that Daryan Warner, the son of the national security minister and former FIFA vice-president is assisting the probe, but could not say who might be charged, or when.

But Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, who had earlier indicated that she would not rely on published reports in the media, but would seek to get "official corroboration of the information", said, to date, the efforts of her administration had not been fruitful.

"As head of the government, I would make an informed decision in this matter once the facts are established," - Persad-Bissessar.