A court in Trinidad blocks extradition of former FIFA vice president Jack Warner to the US
Port -D’espagne, Trinidad – Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner won a decade of a decade of a decade against the United States on Tuesday to deal with corruption accusations in a corruption scandal involving a world football leading body.
The High Court of Trinidad and Tobago permanently suspended the extradition procedure against Warner, which faces accusations of racketeering and corruption in the United States.
Warner was one of the 14 people appointed in an indictment of 47 counts by the American authorities in May 2015. He had been fighting extradition since.
His fight went to the Judicial Commission of the London Private Council, which is the highest court in Trinidad and Tobago. In November 2022, the London court rejected Warner’s appeal against extradition, actually opening the way to be sent to the United States
However, on September 12, Warner’s defense lawyers argued that there were no official extradition agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States, the lawyers said that such an agreement was required for Warner’s extradition.
A state lawyer, who recently resumed the case, did not oppose the argument.
On Tuesday, judge Karen Reid judged that the extradition procedure had been imperfect, due to the absence of an official extradition agreement.
After the decision, Warner told the Associated Press that he felt justified and that justice had been done.
“I could never recover the lost reputation, which happened to me,” said Warner. “My life can now start again, but it’s 10 years too late.”
Warner has faced many allegations of corruption resulting from his time in FIFA. In 2020, an indictment from the US Ministry of Justice accused Warner of receiving $ 5 million in corruption payments to vote for Russia to host the 2018 World Cup, an offer it won.
Warner was forced to leave FIFA in 2011 for a corruption scandal, but he denied any reprehensible act. He was also Minister of the Government and MP at Trinidad and Tobago.
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