Warner extradition hearing adjourned until Feb
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Former football boss Austin ‘Jack’ Warner had his extradition hearing adjourned when he appeared in court on Wednesday.
Warner, who was given temporary reprieve from a bid by United States authorities to try him for alleged involvement in the FIFA corruption scandal, will reappear in court on February 19 .
Lawyers for both sides on Wednesday agreed to push the case back after Warner`s legal team last week filed an application to the High Court for a judicial review of the extradition process.
A judge will begin hearing that request today. It is a separate case from the extradition hearing, which is being held in a magistrate’s court.
Defence lawyers have asked for the extradition case to be stayed until the High Court reaches a decision. Warner appeared briefly in court on Wednesday, but no evidence was heard.
Warner, who held positions as a minister in the last People’s Partnership government, chairman of the United National Congress, and political leader and chairman of the fledging Independent Liberal Party, withdrew from FIFA-related activities in 2011.
There have been several allegations against him relating to the decades he spent in football, from black market ticket sales to requests for personal payments, and pocketing football’s money.
In 2013, CONCACAF’s Integrity Committee, headed by Sir David Simmons, former Chief Justice of Barbados, issued a report accusing Warner and his former cohort Chuck Blazer of mismanagement and massive fraud.
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.
US authorities have charged 14 FIFA officials and sports marketing executives of soliciting and receiving more than US$150 million in bribes and kickbacks over two decades.
On July 23, US authorities asked for Warner — a former head of CONCACAF — to be extradited to face the charges.
So far only three of those charged are in the jurisdiction of New York.
Warner and nine other defendants are still fighting extradition to the US. Six of the defendants are from Switzerland, where they were arrested in May at a Zurich hotel, two are from Argentina and one from Uruguay.
Warner, 72, was the long-time president of the Caribbean Football Union and CONCACAF, the continental football body for North America and the Caribbean.
He was a member of FIFA`s executive committee for two decades and rose to become its vice president before being banned for life by the world body in September.
