Trinidad court rules former FIFA VP will not face US extradition
FILE PHOTO: Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner talks to the media outside Hall of Justice in the capital Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, on March 18, 2016. REUTERS/Andrea De Silva/File photo
Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner will not face extradition to the U.S. to face bribery charges as part of a sweeping, decades-long corruption scandal which involved some of the soccer world's top brass, a court in Warner's home country of Trinidad and Tobago ruled on Tuesday.
Warner was accused of receiving millions of dollars in bribes to vote for Russia to host the 2018 World Cup. While corruption allegations against him date back to the 1980s, he was banned from the sport for life in 2015.
However, he will likely walk free, with the Caribbean nation's top court ruling on Tuesday that it would not comply with the U.S. extradition request. He is not facing any charges at home and has maintained his innocence.
The U.S. Department of Justice argued that Warner had enormous influence as a powerbroker for former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter in his role as vice president and as head of the CONCACAF, which organizes soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Warner was part of "two generations of soccer officials" who abused their positions for personal gain, the DOJ claimed. Blatter was cleared earlier this year of corruption charges in Switzerland.
Justice Karen Reid, in an oral hearing, argued that the Trump administration had not respected due process and the rule of law for non-citizens in the U.S., and as such, she would not send Warner over.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two of Warner's sons, Daryll and Daryan, pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme in the U.S. in 2013. They cooperated with the DOJ probe and a federal court ruled earlier this year that they would not face additional prison time.
