Jack Warner arrested, placed on bail

(Trinidad Express) Jack Warner was this afternoon granted TT$2.5 million bail but has failed to secure his release. In addition, his attorney were unable to secure an emergency sitting of a judge in the High Court, to consider his bail application. Warner is now at an unknown location. It is uncertain whether he will spend the night at the Maximum Security Prison, Arouca, or at a police station.

Warner appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court, charged with 12 offences related to racketeering, corruption and money laundering allegedly committed in the jurisdiction of the United States and Trinidad and Tobago, dating as far back as 1990.

Each of the charges was read to Warner, who was not called upon to plead.

He was represented by attorney Fyard Hosein who told the court that Warner, a former Special Reserve Police officer and school teacher, was now a Parliamentarian of good character.

Hosein said Warner had voluntarily surrendered to the police on learning that a warrant had been issued for his arrest, and had not travelled out of Trinidad and Tobago for four years.

Senior Counsel Pamela Elder said that the attorneys representing the Central Authority had examined the details of the offences and the provisions of the Bail Act, and after careful consideration, would not object to bail being granted.

However, she asked that conditions be attached.

Magistrate Ayers-Caesar ordered that Warner report to the Arouca Police Station every Monday and Thursday between 6 a.m and 6 p.m.

He was ordered to reappear in court on July 9.

Warner’s court appearance came within hours of the US Department of Justice’s request to the Office of the Attorney General’s Central Authority that Warner be extradited to the US to face a series of charges related to his time as a FIFA Vice-President.

Earlier in the day, Attorney General Garvin Nicholas had confirmed that he met in the morning with United States authorities who are in Trinidad to extradite  Warner back to the US, to face charges of racketeering, money laundering and corruption.

Nicholas said he did not have time to peruse the documents which he described as “bulky”.

He confirmed that US officials met with the Central Authority this morning to make an official request to have Warner extradited.

“The normal process for extradition would be that an application is made through the Central Authority and it is processed in that way. I can tell you that an application has been made and therefore the normal process has been triggered and it is taking its course”, said the attorney general. Nicholas explained that the length of time that an extradition takes place is determined by many factors.

Warner’s court appearance was the culmination the US Justice Department’s investigation that spanned years, involved individuals on three continents and probed a money trail dating back 24 years. Investigators moved on Wednesday against the defendants in a surprise raid on a five start hotel in Switzerland, where FIFA officials had gathered ahead of Friday’s FIFA presidential election. The seven FIFA officials who were arrested at the hotel also face extradition to the US.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, a US law enforcement organisation, also raided the headquarters of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) in Miami.

Warner’s two sons have pleaded guilty to related charges in the US.