Austin Jack Warner, the Trinidadian executive and business mogul, widely credited with placing Caribbean soccer on the map, will no longer be extradited to the US to face bribery and corruption charges linked to bidding for previous editions of the World Cup.
A local court ruled on Tuesday that the legal justifications by US authorities to get Warner, 81, on a plane north to face trial were flawed from the beginning, as it flayed the state’s judicial apparatus for knowingly trying to extradite a Trinidad and Tobago citizen on false legal grounds.
Warner, a former lawmaker and national security minister, had roiled the US, England, and other Western nations for allegedly helping to influence votes against England’s effort to host the 2018 World Cup. Russia eventually won the bid and did host the tournament. England and the US had cried foul, alleging that some executives had been compromised for voting the way they did.
Warner had for decades been a very powerful and influential vice president of the world body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and head of Concacaf, the Caribbean association with more than 30 votes in the world body. Those votes were pivotal in making most decisions at the world body.
Angered by the England snub and allegations of insider trading, bribery, and wire fraud, US prosecutors set out to disrupt what was considered FIFA’s normal “family business,” indicting Warner and other FIFA global and regional executives.
Warner surrendered to local authorities in 2015 when the US unveiled indictments on 29 charges, including racketeering and wire fraud.
He has told local media that the court’s ruling to set him free and to stay any future extradition proceedings against him will allow him to help rebuild the national football system and remove a proverbial’ albatross’ from around his neck.
He was also a key financier in the governing United National Congress (UNC) ‘s efforts to win power in 2010-15, during which time he served as security minister.
