High Court Judge James Aboud will rule on whether the United States Government should be allowed to join, as an interested party, in a lawsuit filed by former Fifa vice president Jack Warner challenging his extradition, on June 17.
During a hearing in the Port-of-Spain High Court, Aboud yesterday heard over four hours of submissions on the issue from attorneys representing the US and Warner, who is wanted in the US to face trial on fraud and money-laundering charges arising out of his over two-decade stint in Fifa.
British Queen’s Counsel James Lewis, who is representing the US interest, told Aboud that his client should be granted permission as it stood to be affected the most by the eventual outcome of the case.
In his lawsuit, Warner is asking the court to declare Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi’s decision to sign off on his extradition in September, last year, as unlawful.
Warner’s lawyers are claiming that Al-Rawi acted unfairly as he failed to give their client an opportunity to respond to the US’s extradition request before making his decision.
“These proceedings are a challenge for the extradition proceedings themselves. It will be nothing but an advantage to this court to hear the applicant on the extradition itself,” Lewis said.
He said that while attorneys representing Al-Rawi’s office were defending his decision, they would not be in a position to provide the court with information on the US’s extradition request, about which Aboud would need to make a final decision.
In response, Warner’s lead attorney, Fyard Hosein, SC, said the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) required that an interested party prove that it was sufficiently affected to become a party to the proceedings as opposed to being merely directly affected.
In response, Lewis submitted: “Direct interest is nothing more but the highest form of sufficient interest...If you have direct interest you automatically have sufficient interest.” Warner is also being represented by attorneys Rishi Dass, Anil Maharaj and Sasha Bridgemohansingh. Douglas Mendes, SC, and Michael Quamina are representing the State.
About 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. Warner’s extradition proceedings have been put on hold pending Aboud’s judgment in the judicial review case.
It took US authorities almost their entire 60-day deadline to foward their official request to the Office of the Attorney General. 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 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.