Trinidad Court Blocks Extradition Of Ex-FIFA VP Jack Warner To U.S.

Trinidad and Tobago will not extradite former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner to the United States, where he faces corruption charges, a high court ruled on Tuesday.

Warner, 82, was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015 on charges including racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery. He had been free on $370,000 bail while contesting extradition.

After nearly a decade of legal battles, Justice Karen Reid found that the extradition agreement between Trinidad and the U.S. was flawed, ruling that the proceedings were permanently stayed and that Warner would be released from custody.

Warner’s attorney, Fyard Hosein, successfully argued that no valid extradition treaty was in place when the arrest warrant was issued.

The former FIFA official, banned for life in 2015 over a sweeping corruption scandal that rocked world football, has long been accused by U.S. authorities of exploiting his roles in the sport for personal profit and of taking part in a 2010 World Cup bribery scheme.

Warner, who voted to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments to Russia and Qatar, respectively, said after the hearing that the ruling marked the end of a painful decade. “Nothing could take away the pain and humiliation I felt for the past 10 years and don’t forget my incarceration,” he told AFP.

Warner previously served as president of the Trinidad and Tobago football federation during the nation’s historic 2006 World Cup qualification.