Ramadhar praises Jack but still wants him to stand down until end of FIFA probe

When Jack Warner returned home on Thursday night from Zurich where he had to face a hostile FIFA Ethics Committee that handed him and one of his colleagues provisional suspensions over allegations of corruption, the FIFA Vice President slammed his ministerial colleague, Prakash Ramadhar, for calling on him to step down.

Ramadhar had made the call at a news conference during the week when he announced that he would be a candidate for the leadership of his party, the Congress of the People (COP), which is one of the members of the governing coalition.

Warner said the Legal Affairs Minister was trying to add "political mileage" to his campaign to lead COP.

However, Ramadhar told reporters Friday that's not the case at all. He said he was merely expressing a principled position.

He also said he met with Warner and they had a "very cordial" conversation Friday.

"There is no personal animosity in anything," he said. "And at the end of which, you know, he understood my position, which is that of principle.

"The country needs change; we came in on a promise of change, and this is an effort to do that. We cannot return to the old paradigm and then say we've changed things," he said.

He said the position of COP's executive is that wherever serious allegations are made against high office holders, they should step aside until it is concluded.

"That is a standard that we must achieve in this nation. That's our point of view, and we stand by that. It has nothing to do with the personalities involved at all," he said.

Ramadhar reiterated that he did not call for Warner's dismissal. All he wanted, he said, was for the minister to "stand down" until his name is cleared.

In fact he praised Warner. "I have great respect and admiration for his ability to work under pressure...We need Mr Warner. His ability to get work done is incredible. He is one of our most valued ministers," Ramadhar said.