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Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington yesterday ruled in favour of the prosecution in the extradition case against Jack Warner and ordered that his matter begin in December.

In the process, Wellington set a December 2 date for hearing Warner’s extradition to the United States case, despite strenuous objections by Warner’s lead attorney Senior Counsel Fyard Hosein, who unsuccessfully argued that more time was needed in the complex case. 

Warner lost the first round in what is likely to be a long battle on the same day Switzerland’s attorney general announced a probe had been started into current Fifa president Sepp Blatter. The case will look at some of the same accusations levelled against Warner in the matter being pursued by the US authorities.

Hosein had argued that the state’s legal team had been “dilly-dallying” on signing the Authority to Proceed and only did so after the deadline had expired. He said the State used as excuses the general election and the need for time to consider the documents even while having an abundance of lawyers on its side.

“We can’t have a situation where they are now saying this matter is an urgent one,” Hosein said, adding that the defence only last Thursday received documents in relation to the matter which list 29 charges for Warner to answer.

Senior Counsel Pamela Elder, the lead local attorney representing the requesting State, said the Authority to Proceed (ATP) was in place and the extradition proceedings should commence as soon as possible in accordance with Section 12:2 of the Extradition Act. 

In setting the trial date yesterday, Wellington told Hosein, who on the last occasion had asked that his client be discharged since the State had failed to sign the ATP within the specified timeframe, “I do not think I can accede to the request.” 

Warner is charged with 29 counts of several statutory offences, including money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act, corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and receiving money under the Larceny Act. 

He is also charged with conspiracy to accept corrupt payments, conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to defraud. 

The case

Warner, 72, of Cynthia Drive, Five Rivers, Arouca, faces 12 charges related to fraud, racketeering and illegal wire transfers. 

The offences are alleged to have taken place in the US, T&T and other jurisdictions between 1990 and June 2011 when Warner quit Fifa. He is currently on $2.5 million bail. 

The former political leader of the Independent Liberal Party was arrested on a provisional warrant in May after the US Department of Justice announced the results of their investigation into Warner and 12 of his former colleagues and current Fifa officials. 

Warner and nine other defendants are still fighting extradition to the United States. The other three are currently in the US to answer the charges.

While Warner’s matter is before the courts, the Swiss attorney general yesterday made moves against Blatter, searching his offices on suspicion that he misappropriated funds and violated his duties while in charge of Fifa. 

Blatter agreed to step down as Fifa head earlier this year, although he retained the presidency, amid a corruption scandal which swirled around the world governing body for football. Fresh presidential elections for Fifa will be held on February 26 next year.

Related News

FIFA boss under criminal probe over Warner TV-deal
T&T Newsday Reports.


SWISS prosecutors say they are investigating Sepp Blatter, the head of football’s world governing body Fifa , on suspicion of criminal mismanagement.

The attorney general’s office said he was suspected of signing a contract that was “unfavourable to Fifa ” and making a “disloyal payment” to European football chief Michel Platini. Blatter was being questioned, and his office was searched, it added. 

The 79-year-old, who has run Fifa since 1998, has always denied any wrongdoing. Fifa , which has been hit by a string of corruption allegations in recent years, said it was co-operating with the investigation. 

“Swiss criminal proceedings against the president of Fifa Mr Joseph Blatter, have been opened...on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and alternatively misappropriation,” the Swiss attorney general’s office said in a statement. It said Mr Blatter was suspected of signing a contract with former Caribbean football chief and Fifa vice-president Jack Warner in 2005, that was “unfavourable to Fifa ” and in doing so, “violated his fiduciary duties and acted against the interest of Fifa.”

The contract they mention is thought to refer to a TV rights deal agreed between Fifa and Mr Warner’s organisation Concacaf which, according to an investigation by a Swiss broadcaster earlier this month, allegedly resulted in a multi-million pound profit for Mr Warner’s own company. Fifa owns the TV rights to the World Cup and sells them to regional federations which then sell them on to broadcasters. 

Blatter’s lawyer, Richard Cullen, said he was confident the inquiry would clear the world football chief of any wrongdoing. 

“We are confident that when the Swiss authorities have a chance to review the documents and the evidence, they will see that the contract was properly prepared and negotiated by the appropriate staff members of Fifa who were routinely responsible for such contracts, and certainly no mismanagement occurred,” he said. 

According to the Swiss attorney general, Blatter is also suspected of making a “disloyal payment” of two million Swiss francs ($2m; £1.3m) in 2011 to Mr Michel Platini, the statement said. It said the payment was “at the expense of Fifa , which was allegedly made for work performed between January 1999 and June 2002”. 

Blatter is due to step down in February and Platini is widely expected to replace him. Platini, for his part, issued a statement yesterday evening, saying the money he received from Blatter “relates to work which I carried out under a contract with Fifa ” and he had clarified matters with the authorities. 

In May, Swiss authorities arrested seven Fifa officials in Zurich at the request of the US. 

One, Fifa Vice-President Jeffrey Webb, has already been extradited. 

The US then unveiled indictments against seven other people in their corruption case. 

Nine of those accused were high-ranking current or former Fifa officials. They include Jack Warner who is currently fighting extradition from Trinidad.