TCI lodges formal request for Misick’s extradition

(CNS): Officials from the Turks and Caicos Islands have made the formal request to the Brazilian government for the return of the country’s former leader, the TCI government said Tuesday. Michael Misick has been held in a high security jail cell in Brazil since he was arrested on an international warrant in connection with a major corruption investigation in the TCI. Although Misick has sent word from the prison on several occasions that he is willing to return to face the special prosecution team in TCI, the government has continued to press ahead with a formal process.

"The formal request for Michael Misick's extradition to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) was lodged with the Brazilian government today,” a statement from the governor’s office in the overseas territory said Tuesday.

“The Turks and Caicos Islands’ Chief Magistrate and the acting Attorney General formally certified the papers last week and they were taken to Brazil on Sunday.  Some time was needed to assemble the documentation and to have the request translated into Portuguese, however the request has been made well within the time limit imposed by the Extradition treaty, in accordance with the intention of the TCI Government and the Special Investigation Prosecution Team (SIPT) to secure Michael Misick's return to the TCI by due process of law," the officials added.

Misick has sent word via his family as well as in written notes from his cell that his human rights are being abused and that he was arrested unlawfully. He claims he has done nothing wrong and has not been charged with any crimes and despite offering to return immediately to TCI he has been held in the Brazilian high security prison.

With the extradition now underway and there being no contest from Misick, the former TCI premier is likely to return home in a matter of weeks, where the political party he once led is now back in office. He will then be questioned by the special prosecutors regarding his role in the high profile corruption scandal there that saw direct British rule imposed on the territory for more than two years.