Former senior vice president for business development and marketing with the Insurance Corporation of Barbados (ICBL), Alex Tasker, is in local police custody after this country’s final Court of Appeal cleared the way for his extradition to the United States to face money laundering and conspiracy to launder charges.
Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce revealed that Tasker was taken into custody on Tuesday morning, a day after the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) dismissed his application for special leave to challenge the September 2021 order by Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes that he be surrendered to US authorities to answer the charges.
“We are following the ruling of the CCJ, and we will take action against him, and we will await communication from the United States where he is concerned. So we will do our part . . . everything that is demanded of us in respect of it, that is what we are doing. He is currently in custody,” Commissioner Boyce told Barbados TODAY in an interview.
Asked how long the process will take before Tasker is extradited, the police chief said, “That depends on the United States party.”
Questioned further on whether US officials will come to Barbados to escort Tasker, Commisser Boyce added: “It could work both ways, but we have to wait to see if they will come or if we are going take him up.”
Back in April, Tasker, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent his extradition to the United States, went before the CCJ after failing to convince the local Court of Appeal he should not be handed over to American authorities.
However, on Monday, the three-member CCJ panel of judges headed by president Adrian Saunders ruled that the former ICBL senior executive did not satisfy the test for special leave and therefore ordered that “the application . . . be hereby dismissed.”
“The test requires the applicant to show that (a) there is a realistic possibility that a (potentially) serious miscarriage of justice may have occurred, and/or (b) a point of law of general public importance is raised (that is genuinely disputable) and the court is persuaded that if it is not determined, a questionable precedent might remain on the record.
“In our opinion, the Court of Appeal was entitled to make the decision that it did in dismissing the application for leave to appeal, and there does not appear to be an arguable case put forward by the applicant (Tasker) justifying the grant of special leave to appeal that decision.
“In all the circumstances, it is our considered opinion that the applicant has not met the threshold requirements to succeed on an application for special leave. The application for special leave to appeal to this Court is therefore dismissed. Accordingly, the application for the appeal to be heard urgently is also dismissed.
“The interim orders granted on 11 May 2023 further staying the Order for Committal made by presiding Magistrate . . . Ian Weekes on 8 September 2021 and restraining the State of Barbados, inclusive of the Barbados Police Service and/or its servants and/or agents of the State of Barbados from embarking on any course of conduct which would result in the surrender of the applicant to the . . . authorities are discharged,” the CCJ ruled.
