By Andrew Warshaw
October 6 – In arguably the most explosive attack on FIFA and its judicial procedure, South Korean presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon has confirmed for the first time that he faces imminent suspension, possibly for 15 years, but not before laying bare what he claims are rampant double standards by FIFA’s ethics committee.
Admitting he is on the verge of being sanctioned over his conduct during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process – as reported exclusively by Insideworldfootball – Chung says his FIFA presidential hopes have been deliberately wrecked as he issued a no-holds-barred onslaught that threatens to undermine the entire credibility of FIFA’s ethics process.
In a detailed statement released in Seoul before flying to London to address the Leaders Sport Business Summit on Wednesday, where is he expected to expand on his unprecedented rant, Chung claims he has been targeted simply because he dared challenge the conduct of Sepp Blatter and his predecessor Joao Havelange during his 17 years as FIFA’s Asian vice-president that ended in 2011.
Citing what he called “malicious” leaks to the media concerning his prospective suspension, Chung claimed FIFA investigators were politically motivated to deliberately halt his presidential hopes in their tracks and accused them of flagrantly breaching their own confidentiality rules.
So far Chung, along with under-fire UEFA president Michel Platini and Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan are the three main heavyweight contenders to take over from Blatter on February 26 next year. The deadline for nominations is less than three weeks’ away on October 26 but with his candidacy now in grave danger, Chung has gone for broke in his determination to defend himself.
The charges against him stem from letters he sent to voting FIFA exco members about his country’s plan to raise $777 million to establish a ‘Global Football Fund’ for football development if South Korea was awarded the 2022 World Cup. The ethics committee apparently take the view that such a plan would have constituted a conflict of interest verging on vote-trading. Investigators are also understood to have looked into payments made by Chung to Haiti and Pakistan, ostensibly for disaster relief.
Chung says in both cases he acted completely above board and attacks the ethics committee for unfairly singling him out with no justification whatseoever. He says the global fund idea was “perfectly in line with the football development projects that FIFA asked every bidding country to propose as part of their bid requirement”.
In other words, he says, no different from other proposals suggested by rival bidders including England who wanted the 2018 World Cup. “No money or personal favours were exchanged and no such charges were made against me.”
“Contrary to the media speculation based on leaks, there is no ‘probe’ against charitable donations that I made to Haiti and Pakistan in the past. In addition to Haiti and Pakistan, I have made numerous personal donations, starting with the 1999 Turkey earthquake relief, Bangladesh disaster relief, China earthquake relief and Myanmar cyclone relief funds.”
Chung says FIFA had already investigated the issue and but reopened the case after he declared his presidential candidacy in August. During a news conference in Seoul, he provided copies of two letters, dated 10 November 2010 and signed by former FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke (recently suspended by FIFA himself over a World Cup tickets debacle), stating that the matter was deemed closed.
“Yet the Ethics Committee has now asked for 15 years of sanction for this,” Chung said. “With the campaign season starting, even issues that had been closed many years ago, have a way of being revived.”
“The fundamental reason why I am being targeted is that I aimed straight at the existing power structure of FIFA. People say that FIFA’s ethics committee is Mr Blatter’s ‘hitman’. They never hit him but only those who challenge Mr Blatter.”
“From the beginning, it was clear that the Ethics Committee was undertaking this so-called ‘investigation’ to prevent me from running for president of FIFA,” Chung charged, saying he had kept silent about the investigation “out of respect for the confidentiality requests from the FIFA Ethics Committee” which, he claims, have now been broken.
“Unlike Mr Blatter, Mr [Jerome] Valcke and Mr Platini, I am not facing any allegations of bribery, fraud, corruption, or conflict of interest.”
As a result of such injustice, he said, it was time “to set the record straight.”
And he has done just that in no uncertain terms, suggesting among other things that Blatter should have been given a life ban for his role in the infamous ISL bribery scandal; that Valcke should have been heavily punished over the notorious Mastercard/Visa sponsorship switch; and noting that no inquiry had been launched into Platini’s vote for Qatar to stage the 2022 World Cup even though the Frenchman’s son was subsequently employed by a Qatari-owned company.
Chung also denounced the Ethics Committee’s seven-year ban on former Chilean FA boss Harold Mayne-Nicholls, who led FIFA’s World Cup technical assessment panel, as “a travesty of justice” compared with far more serious cases of wrongdoing.
“Ultimately, I will prevail and will be vindicated,” said Chung who was a key figure in helping South Korea land the right to co-host the 2002 World Cup with Japan and who has been a long-time critic of Blatter, whom he described in a memoir published in 2011 as a dictatorial “little brat.”
Throwing the book at others has been a regular but not altogether wise tactic of Chung’s election campaign in his attempt to stage a comeback. But it is clear he is not prepared to go down without first giving his version of events surrounding his own situation.
Accusing the Ethics Committee of showing “complete disregard for due process,” he added: “The true danger is that they are not only sabotaging my candidacy. They are sabotaging FIFA’s election and FIFA itself.”
“The fact that I am the target of Mr. Blatter’s smear campaign is clearly the most powerful endorsement for my candidacy for the FIFA presidency and the best proof that I am the person to lead FIFA’s reforms.”
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