PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Embattled former vice president of the International Football Association (FIFA), Austin Jack Warner, will have to wait until January 22 next year to know whether he has been successful in challenging his extradition to the United States where he is wanted on a number of fraud related charges.

High Court judge Justice James Aboud said Thursday he will give his ruling on whether or not Warner can challenge his extradition in the courts.

Warner is seeking leave to have the High Court review the extradition treaty Trinidad and Tobago has with the United States, as well as the Authority to Proceed  (ATP) signed by Attorney General Faris Al Rawi in September which gave the chief magistrate the authority to proceed with extradition proceedings in the lower court.

Justice Aboud after hearing from Warner’s attorneys and those representing the Attorney General set a January 22 date, when he will give his ruling on whether Warner, a former senior government minister here, will be given leave to take his challenge to the next step.

On September 21, days after the deadline for him to sign the expired, Al Rawi issued the ATP. One week later, an application by Warner’s lawyers to have the provisional warrant quashed, was denied by the deputy chief magistrate.

Under the ATP, 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 under the Larceny Act. There are also several common law offences including conspiracy to accept corrupt payments; conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to defraud.

Warner is contending that Al Rawi was wrong to proceed with extradition against him to the United States. He is also challenging the Extradition Order under the treaty, saying it goes against local extradition laws. His lead attorney, Fyard Hosein, SC, argued that to extradite his client under the faulty and invalid Order will be subterfuge, as it violated the local laws.

Warner’s attorney also alleged that his client’s right to representation was infringed, however, Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, who is the lead attorney for the Attorney General argued that Warner had no right to be heard on the ATP, signed by the Attorney General in September, giving the go-ahead to begin the extradition process.

Mendes also said the records would show that Warner was given an opportunity to make representation to the Attorney General, but this was refused.

Mendes also countered the argument that the Order was invalid, saying although the Extradition Act was amended, the Order which allowed for the US being deemed a foreign territory to which a person can be extradited was preserved.

He also said the US, in requesting Warner, has identified in accordance with Article 14 of the Treaty, the arrangement to be put in place to treat with the former FIFA vice president when he is returned to that country to answer the charges against him. As part of the reliefs sought, Warner is asking for declarations that the extradition request of the US be deemed unlawful as well as the authority to proceed signed by the AG and orders that the request and the ATP be quashed.

Warner also wants section 4(3) of the Extradition Act, be declared unconstitutional and it be struck down. Warner, who surrendered himself to Fraud Squad officers on May 27, after learning of the provisional warrant is currently on TT$2.5 million (One TT dollar =US$0.17 cents) bail.

Warner was indicted in May by a US grand jury on 12 charges of wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering over an escalating scandal at FIFA, football`s world governing body.

US authorities have charged 14 FIFA officials and sports marketing executives of soliciting and receiving more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks over two decades. On July 23, US authorities asked for Warner, a former head of football`s governing body in North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) to be extradited to face the charges.