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Jack Warner - FORMER FIFA vice president Jack Warner's attorney has called on the state to account for what he says are serious gaps and inconsistencies in the disclosure of legal fees paid in the extradition proceedings against the former football jefe which he said are discrepancies amounting to millions of dollars in public funds.
In a letter to the Chief state Solicitor on August 8, attorney Richard Jaggasar said the Attorney General’s Office disclosed payment records for only seven names, omitting information for nine attorneys and the overseas firm. This amounted to $6.9 million.
However, Jaggasar asserts that former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi told a press conference on August 6 that several of the omitted attorneys – including Jagdeo Singh, Gerald Ramdeen, Wayne Sturge, Israel Khan, SC, and Allan Newman, KC – were in fact retained and paid by the state.
Al-Rawi also disclosed that $15.48 million was spent on the extradition matters, a figure, Jaggesar says, is more than $8.5 million higher than the amount previously revealed under court order.
Jaggasar referred to the court orders made by Justice Karen Reid, reminding that Warner first requested the information under the Freedom of Information Act in July 2023. The request sought details on payments to all attorneys involved in the extradition matters, including committal proceedings, High Court and Court of Appeal matters, Privy Council hearings, and related applications.
Warner’s list identified 17 local attorneys and one London-based law firm.
On July 8, the state’s attorneys, in a letter to Jaggasar, said Attorney General John Jeremie, SC, had approved the disclosure of the documents unredacted in the interest of transparency. These revealed that more than $6.9 million was paid, so far, to external lawyers in Warner’s extradition matter.
Jaggasar said based on the former AG's statements that left three possible explanations: that the state’s court-ordered disclosure was “materially incomplete,” that Al-Rawi misled the public, or that Al-Rawi himself was misinformed while in office.
“In any of these eventualities, the integrity of the disclosure process and public confidence in the Office of the Attorney General are directly undermined,” Jaggasar said, warning that it was “untenable” for the official court record to conflict so sharply with a former senior official’s public statements.
The letter urged Jeremie to expand his recently announced probe into the Warner extradition to include a full audit of all legal fee payments, the retention of omitted attorneys, and the state’s compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. Jaggasar also called for a review of record-keeping systems, internal communications, and any possible concealment of information.
“If the initial disclosures are incomplete and inaccurate,” Jaggasar wrote, “it is incumbent upon the Office of the Attorney General to immediately issue a supplemental disclosure… Any failure to do so will leave uncorrected a material conflict between the official court-ordered disclosure and the public record.”
In March 2024, Reid ruled that Warner could proceed with a judicial review to seek the information.
At first, the Attorney General’s Office resisted the lawsuit, as it claimed the disclosure was covered by legal privilege and that disclosure would breach the lawyers’ constitutional right to privacy.
Warner then received redacted information in relation to six of the 18 local and foreign lawyers identified by him.
Warner maintained that he was entitled to unredacted documents identifying all attorneys retained by the state in his ongoing extradition battle.
“These are monies spent from the public purse, so the taxpayers have a right to know,” Warner said in an affidavit.
Warner accused the permanent secretary of “obfuscation,” claiming that while some information was provided, the documents were padded with triplicates and duplicates and lacked key details, such as attorney names.
His 2023 FOIA request sought details on how much had been paid to attorneys involved in his extradition case from 2015 to 2023. The request covered legal work in the magistrates’ court, High Court, Court of Appeal, and the Privy Council, including a referral application to the High Court.
In October 2023, the Office of the Attorney General denied full access, citing insufficient public interest and attorney-client privilege. Warner filed for judicial review in December 2023. He later received a list showing that $6.5 million had been paid to six attorneys. However, he maintained that the ministry should have additional documentation for at least 18 legal professionals. “It is a reasonable request for monies spent by a public authority using public funds,” Warner said.
The disclosure lawsuit was separate from Warner’s ongoing extradition proceedings, in which he faces 29 charges in the United States related to fraud, corruption and money laundering during his tenure at FIFA.
Jaggasar called the outcome a “hard-won victory” for transparency and said the former administration’s actions were a clear attempt to block public accountability. He praised the new government’s promise to handle such issues more fairly. Reid also ordered the state to pay Warner’s legal costs in the fees case and Warner agreed to withdraw his claim.
Reid is also presiding over Warner’s challenge to his extradition.
English (US) ·