A High Court judge yesterday halted the extradition proceedings against former government minister Jack Warner pending the outcome of his lawsuit challenging its legality.
At a hearing in the High Court in Port-of-Spain, Justice James Aboud gave Warner the green light to pursue his judicial review lawsuit challenging his extradition to the United States where he faces fraud and money-laundering charges related to his two decades at Fifa as a vice-president.
Warner in his claim is questioning the procedure adopted by the Office of the Attorney General in signing off on the US’s request for his extradition made in May, last year, at the end of the US Department of Justice’s investigation into world football’s governing body.
As part of his ruling, Aboud granted Warner a stay of his ongoing extradition proceedings currently before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar, which will expire after Aboud decides on the legality and constitutionality of his extradition.
While Warner raised three grounds in his lawsuit, Aboud said he was only allowed to pursue two as the third had no “real prospect of success.”
The main ground allowed by Aboud is where Warner’s attorneys are alleging that this country’s extradition treaty with the US contradicts the Extradition (Commonwealth and Foreign Territories) Act. They are claiming that in passing the act, Parliament afforded citizens certain protections which are ignored by the international treaty.
In the second, Warner is complaining that Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi failed to give his attorneys a fair opportunity to make representations to him before he signed off on the Authority to Proceed, which was required to kick off the proceedings before Ayers-Caesar.
Shortly after taking over the case from his predecessor Garvin Nicholas in September, last year, Al-Rawi extended the option to Warner. However, his attorneys allegedly refused as they said it was made a day before Al-Rawi was required to approve the extradition.
“I suspect that there were certain strategies involved. I want to look beyond these and see how genuine the parties were,” Aboud said.
In his third ground, which was struck out by Aboud, Warner was alleging that Al-Rawi may have been biased in making his decision as he was influenced by private attorneys hired by his office’s Central Authority to seek the US’s interest in the case.
“There is no evidence to impugn the character of the new AG,” Aboud said, as he rejected the ground. Aboud’s decision to remove the ground from the substantive case is expected to be appealed by Warner.
After approving his case, Aboud stated that he was willing to expedite it to ensure Warner “knew his fate” within the shortest possible time.
“I am going to fix a tight schedule. I expect that everyone will cooperate with the schedule,” Aboud said. Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, representing the AG, agreed with Aboud’s suggestion as he said that the case should not be delayed since Warner’s complaints include a four-month delay by the AG in signing off on the extradition.
Aboud’s statement struck a chord with Warner’s lawyer Fyard Hosein, SC, who questioned the need to “rush the case.”
“I do not know why this case should take priority over the case of thousands of other citizens just because a foreign country has made a request. It defies common sense,” Hosein said, as he noted that his team needed time to research complex issues in the case and to gather expert witnesses.
“This is not an ordinary case. We are not engaged in a game of procrastination,” Hosein said.
In response, Aboud explained that it was his policy to treat extradition cases as a priority, but agreed to apply normal timelines used in judicial review cases to Warner’s. Warner’s attorneys were given two weeks to file their substantive case and witness statements, with the State being given two weeks from them in which to respond.
The parties are expected to return to court on February 26 for the start of the case.
Warner is also being represented by Nyree Alfonso, Rishi Dass and Anil Maraj, while Michael Quamina is appearing alongside Mendes.
WARNER’S CASE
Warner, 72, of Cynthia Drive, Five Rivers, Arouca, is accused of 12 charges related to fraud, racketeering and 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 June 2011 when Warner quit Fifa.
He is one of 14 former executives of world football’s governing body who were indicted on a series of charges after an investigation into corruption in football, conducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice.
Warner surrendered to police in May after a provisional warrant was issued for his arrest when US authorities announced the conclusion of their extensive investigation. Warner spent one night on remand at the Port-of-Spain State Prison before he was able to access his $2.5 million bail.
It took US authorities almost their entire 60-day deadline to foward their official request to the Office of the Attorney General, which is needed to prepare the authority to proceed. The documents arrived in T&T in late July. Former AG Garvin Nicholas failed to sign off on the Authority to Proceed during his brief tenure. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi requested an extension of time to consider the documents.
In 2013, Warner resigned from his post of national security minister and UNC chairman after the publication of a report from Concacaf’s Integrity Committee showing financial mismanagement during his long tenure as the regional body’s president. Warner also resigned as Chaguanas West MP but later regained the seat in a by-election.
He then formed the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) but resigned as its leader after it failed to secure any seats in the September 7 general election.