Five Law Lords of the United Kingdom-based Privy Council have dismissed former FIFA executive and T&T government minister Jack Warner's final appeal over the dismissal of his lawsuit challenging the United States (US) extradition request for him.
Lords Hodge, Briggs, Hamblen, Burrows, and Sir Declan Morgan delivered their decision in the appeal earlier today, after hearing submissions from lawyers representing Warner and the Office of the Attorney General at the UK's Supreme Court in London, England, earlier this year.
In its decision, the Board dismissed all four grounds raised by Warner in the appeal as it upheld consistent decisions from the local High Court and Court of Appeal.
It ruled that this country’s extradition treaty with the US did not contradict the Extradition (Commonwealth and Foreign Territories) Act. It also ruled that former Attorney General Faris Al Rawi did not act unfairly in his handling of the US extradition request for Warner.
The decision in the appeal clears the way for extradition proceedings before Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle, which were put on hold as Warner was pursuing his civil litigation, to resume.
In a statement issued a short while ago, Warner said he would continue to challenge the legality of the proposed extradition.
"I continue to have confidence in my team led by Fyard Hosein Senior Counsel, and I have 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.
Warner, a former FIFA vice-president, 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 several senior 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 (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ).
Several of his former colleagues have pleaded guilty to the charges and have been sentenced.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian