(Trinidad Express) Attorney General Garvin Nicholas said yesterday officials feared former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner would flee the island after facing US federal corruption charges, but they’re now confident he’ll stay in the country.
Warner is scheduled to appear in court on July 9 for an extradition hearing on US charges including racketeering, wire fraud and money-laundering.
“Any person with the level of resources that Mr Warner has would be considered a flight risk,” Nicholas told The Associated Press.
“We certainly made it a lot more difficult for him to escape or leave the country.”
Warner was ordered to surrender his passport and report to police twice a week. He is one of several international football officials facing charges as part of the US investigation.
US justice officials have accused Warner of receiving three payments totalling $10 million in 2008 from an unidentified, high-ranking FIFA official to allegedly secure his vote and help give South Africa the right to host the 2010 World Cup over Morocco. Warner has denied any wrongdoing.
He left FIFA in 2011 after being implicated in a bribery scandal.
Trinidad and Tobago Sport Minister Brent Sancho told the AP that he hopes the probe will help answer many corruption allegations involving Warner and others.
“FIFA (has) had a world of allegations swirling around them for quite some time,” he said. “Now that the walls of FIFA are finally crumbling, we can only hope that the answers to all of these allegations are now going to happen.”