Former Fifa vice-president and current Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner will reappear in the court today for the continuation of his extradition proceedings over 12 fraud charges arising out of a United States investigation into corruption within world football’s governing body.
His appearance before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrate’s Court would be his second since he was indicted via a provisional warrant after the US Department of Justice announced in May the results of their investigation into him and 13 of his former colleagues.
The T&T Guardian understands that today’s hearing would be relatively short as sources say the Central Authority Unit of the Office of the Attorney General is yet to receive the formal extradition request from US authorities, which Warner’s legal team will need in order to prepare his defence. A source said the documents are expected to arrive in T&T shortly and would be immediately disclosed to Warner to clear the way for the official start of the proceedings before Ayers-Caesar.
According to a BBC report published last Thursday, Swiss authorities, who arrested seven of Warner’s co-accused in a luxury hotel in Zurich hours before the former government minister surrendered to local police, received their formal requests from the US last Wednesday.
The officials, including former Concacaf president and Fifa vice-president Jeffery Webb, will now have an opportunity to respond to the extradition request before Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) makes its decision.
Their eventual extradition to the US to face trial is expected to take several months as the officials will be given an opportunity to appeal the FOJ’s decision to Switzerland’s Supreme Court. Warner and his former colleagues face a total of 47 charges for allegedly taking part in a scheme involving the soliciting and collecting of bribes for media and marketing rights for several major international football tournaments.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation was initiated following allegations of corruption in the bidding process for the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 World Cups but was eventually widened to include questionable deals spanning over two decades.
Warner, 72, of Cynthia Drive, Five Rivers, Arouca, is accused of 12 charges related to fraud, racketeering and for engaging in illegal wire transfers. The offences are alleged to have taken place in the United States, T&T and other jurisdictions between 1990 and when Warner quit Fifa in June 2011. He is currently on $2.5 million bail.
Warner is being represented by British Queen’s Counsel Edward Fitzgerald, who led the team of lawyers who successfully challenged the extradition of businessmen Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson.
His legal team also includes Keith Scotland, Rishi Dass and Nyree Alfonso. Pamela Elder, SC, Jagdeo Singh, Gerald Ramdeen, Alvin Pariagsingh and head of the Central Authority Netram Kowlessar are representing the US’ interest in the case. British Queen’s Counsel James Lewis has been retained to lead the State’s legal team.