The Office of the Attorney General has finally received the United States’ formal extradition request for former Fifa executive and current Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner.
Attorney General Garvin Nicholas made the announcement at a press conference at his Cabildo Chambers office, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday evening as he sought to dispel rumours over the arrival of the documents which are required for Warner’s extradition proceedings to commence.
Nicholas said: “The process is now for me to examine the documents and consider the evidence and decide whether to issue the authority to proceed.”
The official start of Warner’s case is dependent on Nicholas’s decision as only when he gives it, the documents on charges the former government minister is facing will be disclosed to his attorneys. His lawyers have already indicated they will need the documents to prepare Warner’s defence in his extradition proceedings.
Asked for a time frame for his decision in light of the fact that Warner is due to reappear before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar for the continuation of his case next Monday, Nicholas said he was in no rush.
“This is of course a serious and substantial matter and must be given due time and attention. I will not put a time frame on my consideration as the documents are very significant and therefore requires due deliberation,” Nicholas said. When asked to respond to Warner’s allegations that his (Nicholas) handling of the extradition was being influenced by politics, Nicholas firmly denied that.
“This matter has absolutely nothing to do with politics. I can say all legal and due process considerations will be taken as we move forward with this matter.
“The Office of the AG and all local players, whether it be the police, have gone about it as professionally as possible to the letter of the law and have offered Mr Warner and his team all due courtesies when possible,” Nicholas said. He also defended his decision to hire a formidable team of private lawyers to represent the US interest in the case instead of relying on internal staff of the Central Authority, which co-ordinates all extradition requests.
The legal team includes British Queen’s Counsel Allan Newman and James Lewis, local Senior Counsel Israel Khan and Pamela Elder and attorneys Jagdeo Singh, Gerald Ramdeen and Alvin Pariagsingh.
“We sought to get the experts in the fields of criminal law, judicial review and extradition. At the moment the Solicitor General’s Office is quite stretched and this being such a significant matter which requires a lot of time and attention and certainly action in a short period of time, it was thought this is the best way to go,” Nicholas said.
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 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 (FBI) and Department of Justice.