Trinidad AG says law must be allowed to take its course in Warner extradition matter

Trinidad and Tobago’s Attorney General Reginald Armour says the law should be allowed to take its course now that the country’s highest court of appeal has dismissed Austin ‘Jack’ Warner’s appeal against his extradition to the United States to face corruption charges.

He said in a statement that in handing down its judgement earlier on Thursday, the Privy Council affirmed as correct the decision which was earlier made by the Trinidad and Tobago Court of Appeal.

“As Attorney General, I am able to assure the citizenry of this Republic that in Trinidad and Tobago the rule of law and due process are alive and well and, the law must now be allowed to take its course,” Armour said.

In the appeal before the London court, Warner’s legal team argued four issues, the most significant of which Armour said was whether there was procedural or substantive unfairness in the procedure leading to the issuance of the Authority To Proceed (ATP) to enable Warner’s extradition, as requested by the US on July 24, 2015.

The US Department of Justice is seeking to have Warner extradited to answer 12 charges of wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering arising from a corruption scheme he was allegedly involved in for more than two decades while he was an executive member of football’s world governing body, FIFA.

“The Privy Council has unanimously determined that no procedural or substantive unfairness has taken place preventing Mr. Warner’s extradition to the USA,” Armour noted.

“The judgement determined further that in dismissing Mr. Warner’s appeal there was no necessity for it to consider any of the constitutional issues raised by Mr. Warner about the relationship between the Executive, the Legislature and the Courts in Trinidad and Tobago.”

Warner, a former FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF president, was one of 14 football administrators charged in connection with a 24-year scheme that prosecutors alleged was designed to “enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer”.

The 79-year-old is accused of receiving $5 million in bribes to vote for Russia to host the 2018 World Cup. US prosecutors allege that from 1990, he leveraged his influence and exploited his official position for personal gain.

In a statement issued following the Privy Council’s ruling on Thursday, Warner said he would continue to have confidence in his legal team, and had advised them “to continue to press my case on the three remaining stages of these proceedings”.

“I have lived in this country for nearly eighty years, and I am confident that I will continue to receive the love, affection, and respect that people from all walks of life have always extended to me. I am certain I will prevail in the end,” Warner said in a post on his Facebook page.

CMC/