rewrite this title Trinidad blocks extradition of ex-FIFA’s Warner

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner won a decade-long court battle on Tuesday against being extradited to the U.S. to face corruption charges in a bribery scandal involving football’s world governing body.

Trinidad and Tobago’s high court permanently stayed extradition proceedings against Warner, 82, who faces racketeering and bribery charges in the United States.

Warner was one of 14 people named in a 47-count indictment by U.S. authorities in May 2015. He had been fighting extradition since.

His fight went as far as the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, which serves as Trinidad and Tobago’s highest court. In November 2022, the London court dismissed Warner’s appeal against extradition, effectively clearing the way for him to be sent to the U.S.

However, on Sept. 12, Warner’s defense attorneys argued there was no formal extradition agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S. The attorneys said such an agreement was required for Warner’s extradition.

An attorney for the state, who recently took over the case, did not oppose the argument.

On Tuesday, Justice Karen Reid ruled that the extradition proceedings were flawed, due to the absence of an official extradition agreement.

Following the ruling, Warner told The Associated Press that he felt vindicated and that justice had been served.

“I could never get back the lost reputation, which has happened to me,” Warner said. “My life can now begin afresh, but it’s 10 years too late.”

Warner has faced numerous corruption allegations stemming from his time in FIFA. In 2020, a U.S. Department of Justice indictment accused Warner of receiving $5 million in bribery payments to vote for Russia to host the 2018 World Cup, a bid it won.

Warner was forced out of FIFA in 2011 over a bribery scandal, but he has denied any wrongdoing. He also previously served as a government minister and member of Parliament in Trinidad and Tobago.