Caption: Jack Warner

By Prior Beharry

FORMER FIFA Vice President Jack Austin Warner had his extradition case to the United States thrown out on Tuesday.

Justice Karen Reid found that the extradition agreement between the two countries was flawed.

The core contention centred on the alleged absence of a standing US/TT extradition agreement at the time the 2015 authority to proceed (ATP) was issued.

Warner’s lead attorney, senior counsel Fyard Hosein, told Justice Reid when the matter came up last week that the state’s long pursuit of Warner relied on a “bespoke” arrangement that never existed.

In a High Court hearing on September 12, Jack Warner’s legal team urged Justice Reid to set aside the 2015 authority to proceed with his extradition to the United States, as the attorney general acknowledged concessions that the US/Trinidad and Tobago extradition arrangement was flawed.

Hosein argued that no valid extradition framework existed when the 2015 authority to proceed was issued, alleging a decade-long campaign built on fraud and misrepresentation. The court’s ruling could affect not only Warner’s fate but ongoing questions about accountability for past government actions in the extradition process.

Hosein asserted that the ATP was “null, void, and of no effect” and warned that continuing detention would force taxpayers to pay damages after more than ten years.

Today, Justice Reid permanently stayed Warner’s extradition proceedings.

Warner, 81, was on $2.5 million bail while challenging extradition on charges including racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery. US authorities accused him of leveraging his positions for personal gain and of involvement in a 2010 World Cup bribery scheme.

British attorney Robert Strang, who represented the Office of the Attorney General, conceded that the ATP should be set aside, describing the arrangement as legally flawed and supporting the removal of any ongoing restraints on Warner’s liberty.

Hosein told AZP News that Warner got a permanent stay of the extradition proceedings and that the court will now seek to find out who is responsible for this misrepresentation and for the damages he’s entitled to.

He said, “The High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council were deceived by the State until the intervention of this current AG, as there existed no arrangement that they knew of since 2015, and they hid it from the court.

“This is a vindication of the rule of law and for transparency, which should be an obligation for every lawyer and officer of the court to be upfront and always tell the court the truth.”

Hosein added that Jack Warner took this country to the World Cup in 2006 and it is very tragic that he had to go through this.

Contacted by AZP News for comment, Warner said, “After ten years, 15 attorneys, seven of whom were silk and two were foreigners, I feel vindicated.”

He said, “Nothing could take away the pain and humiliation I felt for the past ten years and don’t forget my incarceration.”

Warner declined to say anything more.

Hosein led a legal team that included Rishi Dass, SC, Sasha Bridgemohansingh, Anil Maraj and Aadam Hosein.