By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – In a clear attempt not to be undone in terms of snatching the moral high ground, FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon has launched a scathing attack on the credibility of the organisation declaring it is now in “total meltdown” after the recent allegations concerning Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini.
Just like Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, the 61-year-old South Korean is campaigning to take over from Blatter despite constant unconfirmed claims, which he denies, that he is the subject of an ethics committee inquiry into his activities surrounding the 2022 World Cup ballot.
The same ethics committee is currently actively examining how to respond to the Swiss Attorney General’s Office placing Sepp Blatter under criminal investigation and naming Platini as the recipient of a 2 million Swiss franc payment from the veteran Swiss in 2011. Both powerbrokers have denied any wrongdoing.
Prince Ali was quick to react to FIFA’s deepening crisis and now Chung has followed suit in a widely circulated statement.
“During my tenure as a FIFA exco member, I worked ceaselessly to confront and to correct what I thought were opaque and illegal ways in which Mr Blatter and his predecessor, Mr [Joao] Havelange, ran FIFA. I am sad to say that, at the time, I did not have the power to stop such corrupt practices that have now come back to haunt and destroy FIFA,” he declared.
“FIFA is currently facing an unprecedented crisis. However, this is also an unprecedented opportunity to reform it.
“The most urgent task at hand is to root out corruption from within FIFA. Investigations into illegal activities of the past should be left to the proper legal authorities. Justice must be served. Resuscitating FIFA, however, should be left to those who love football. The future of football should not be left in the hands of outsiders.
“Even today, the 2018 World Cup qualifying matches continue to be held. Many football development programs continue to be implemented. However, FIFA that should be overseeing all this is in a total meltdown. General Secretary Valcke is already suspended and it is being reported that President Blatter who is under investigation by federal authorities, as well as FIFA’s internal organs, will soon be suspended also.”
Chung says an emergency body must now be set up urgently to run FIFA in the interim, until next February’s election.
“Under such circumstances, FIFA and regional Confederations should consider convening extra-ordinary sessions of their respective Executive Committee as well as Congress to set-up an emergency task force that will enable FIFA Secretariat to function without interruption,” he wrote.
He then laid out what he would do to restore FIFA’s credibility, promising to “eradicate 40 years of corruption in four years.”
“As a devoted fan of football, I will mobilize all my experience and resources at my disposal to the re-birth, the ‘renaissance’, of FIFA. As I had pledged before, if I am elected the next President of FIFA, I will serve a single four-year term.
“I will use the first two years to undertake a complete structural and operational reform of FIFA. The other two years will be devoted to bringing about unity and harmony to the organization. Forty years of culture of corruption can be eradicated in four years. There is no reason why it cannot be done. In fact, that is the only way it can be done.”
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