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(CMC) – A Trinidad & Tobago High Court judge said Tuesday that the former vice president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Austin Jack Warner was subjected to a “flawed” process when the United States sought his extradition to face several fraud-related charges in the North American country.
“Ordinarily, civil courts are slow to make any decision, the effect of which is to thwart the conduct of criminal prosecutions, as the public interest is usually best served by having those prosecutions determined on their merits.
“When it comes to the handing over of citizens for extraterritorial prosecution, the Extradition Act provides a manner in which this is to be done, and the protections that are required to be put in place for the protection of our citizens,” Justice Karen Reid said.
Warner, 81, faces 29 charges from US authorities for fraud, racketeering, and illegal wire transfers that allegedly took place in the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, and other countries between 1990 and June 2011.
He was arrested on a provisional warrant under the extradition request and later released on TT$2.5 million (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) bail.
Warner is one of several senior FIFA officials indicted following a 2015 US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice probe into corruption in international football.
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In August this year, Attorney General John Jeremie launched an internal investigation into how the State handled Warner’s extradition case, after serious allegations emerged regarding misrepresentation and misconduct tied to a 2015 agreement with the United States.
Former chief magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle had in June 2023 said that there was no formal written agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and the US authorizing Warner’s extradition.
When the matter came up for hearing last Friday, Justice Reid, was told that the Office of the Attorney General has since conceded that a key document supporting the extradition request is non-existent, and as a result, the legal proceedings against him should be stopped.
But the judge said that she was not immediately prepared to quash the proceedings and directed that further written submissions be filed for her consideration.
British King’s Counsel, Robert Strang, representing the Attorney General’s Office, told the court that there was no existing “specialty” arrangement between the two countries that supported the certificate used to proceed with Warner’s extradition.
“Given that at present the claimant is under continuing legal restraints on his liberty, the court should order that the ATP be set aside and that any continuing restraints on the claimant’s liberty be set aside.
And, I agree that that is open to the court based on the admitted breaches of the Constitution that the Attorney General set out in his written submissions…” Strang told the judge.
His extradition proceedings had been mired in legal challenges — notably over what’s called the “specialty principle,” which requires that a person extradited can be prosecuted only for the offences listed in the extradition request.
In her ruling, the judge said that one of the protections afforded to citizens is that the rule of specialty, designed them from being prosecuted for offences other than those for which they are being extradited.
“A few things have become obvious. It is not in dispute that the only arrangement existing between the requesting state and Trinidad and Tobago is the treaty.”
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I don’t know what the fuss is all about. Every defendant in a criminal case has the right to legal counsel. If the defendant cannot afford to hire an attorney, the court would appointed one for them. Attorney Wendell Robinson is carrying out his professional duties and its within his rights regardless how the public feels about the issue.
@Audley Phillip September 24, 2025 At 9:03 am
i think your comment is in the wrong article.
My question is, do we have a reciprocal relation with the USA that is we need a US citizen to come and stand trial in our court, that they will go through their justice system and deliver such a person to us. Mind you I don’t know of one such case ever took place. But I know of we sending people like our head of the FSRC Mr. Leroy King to the US to face jail time. Just wondering if this thing goes two ways. Also remember the demand from England when they had to extrodite the police officer who was accused of rape back to Antigua. He never spend one day at 1735. He was at the Airforce Base enjoying the life. The only thing he was not allowed to leave the premisses. But who care he was free to walk around as he wanted and used the gym and ordered food. As if in England he would haveb had it so good.