AFP Report
Thursday, July 23, 2015
The United States has formally requested the extradition of Jack Warner, the former vice president of FIFA.
Trinidad and Tobago's Attorney General Garvin Nicholas said in a press conference Wednesday. "I can tell you that I have this evening received a formal request for the extradition of Mr. Jack Warner with the supporting extradition package."
"The process is now for me to examine the documentation and consider the evidence and decide whether to issue the authority to proceed, " Nicholas told reporters
However, the extradition will not be an easy task. Warner is leader of Trinidad's Independent Liberal Party as well as a member of parliament, which would mean he could be shielded from the extradition request due to diplomatic immunity.
Warner threatened last month that he would expose the FIFA's connection to elections in his country. He says he has documents linking FIFA's resigning President Sepp Blatter to money transactions related to corruption in 2010 national elections in Trinidad. But Garvin dismissed arguments that Warner's extradition was or could be a political issue. "The matter has absolutely nothing to do with politics, absolutely nothing to do with politics," he said.
"This is an extradition request that was made by the United States government. We've dealt with several extraditions over the last few months."
According to the Reuters News Agency, Trinidad political observers say that the process could take up to five years before Warner end up in the U.S.. An extradition hearing is scheduled July 27. Warner is now out on bail after he was arrested in May after a U.S. investigation revealed that high-level officials in FIFA were involved in millions of dollars in corruption and bribes.
Warner is accused by the U.S. of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. The U.S. investigations claim that Warner and two other FIFA officials received $10 million from South Africa in order to support the nation's successful bid to host World Cup 2010.
