KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: FIFA presidential contender Chung Mong-joon has set himself on collision course with the world federation committees responsible for keeping order in the election campaign.

The South Korean, a former long-serving FIFA vice-president, is furious at the rejection by both the ad hoc electoral committee and the ethics committee of his complaint against the Asian Football Confederation.

This comes against the context of reported consideration by the ethics committee of Chung’s activities in support of his FA’s vain bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

The latest row was sparked by Chung’s concern over an expression of support by AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa for Michel Platini, French head of Europe’s UEFA, in the election next February 26 to elect a successor to FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Last month the AFC sent to many of its 46 member associations a pro forma letter suggesting declarations of support to FIFA on behalf of Platini. Chung protested that the confederation was guilty of ‘electoral fraud,’ a charge which the AFC rejected.

AFC denial

Now, to Chung’s anger, the two FIFA regulatory committees have supported the AFC’s protestations of innocence.

Chung’s office said he had been informed by the electoral committee that it “judged AFC’s activities not to have violated any rules or regulations.”

A statement complained: “The committee hastily concluded its inquiries into this critical incident in a mere three days citing lack of evidence without an in-depth investigation of relevant persons involved.

“We object to this conclusion in the strongest possible terms. [The committee] did not even look into the possibility of a coordination between AFC and Mr Platini, arguing that the committee only has jurisdiction over presidential candidates’ activities and thus could not interfere in the AFC’s activities.

“This is tantamount to voluntarily forfeiting the committee’s duty to ensure the fairness of the election for FIFA president.”

Chung contrasted the AFC’s behaviour with that of the African confederation which had taken to task an unnamed vice-president who undertook similar unofficial campaigning on Platini’s behalf in Africa.

Investigation plea

Thus he has repeated his complaint against the AFC to the ethics committee and, “in the strongest possible terms”, was demanding a thorough investigation into whether Sheikh Salman, Platini “and officials at CAF and other confederations plotted this incident together.”

The chairman of the electoral committee is Domenico Scala who has been busy in recent weeks working on his FIFA reform proposals which were published yesterday.

Scala was asked, during a news conference call, about this electoral supervisory role vis-a-vis reports that Chung’s activities during the 2018-2022 World Cup bidding process were being investigated by the ethics committee.

This could threaten Chung’s presidential bid if the ethics committee judges him unsuitable to be a candidate.

Scala left the door open for a decision either way by saying: “It always goes down to the merits of the accusations and investigations. The ethics committee carries out an ethics check [on all prospective candidates] and, at the end of the day, we will rely on the assessment of the ethics committee.”

The full statement:

Dr Chung Mong-Joon, Once Again, Urges FIFA to Manage a Fair Election.

(Press Statement in Response to AFC’s Form Letters Supporting Michel Platini)

** Recently, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) sent to almost every AFC member association, form letters to be filled in by the National Football Association in support of the candidacy of Mr. Michel Platini.  Furthermore, the Director and staff members of AFC’s Department of Member Associations and Development made private phone calls to individual member associations, checking to see whether they had sent in the completed form letters to FIFA. 

On August 31, Dr. Chung Mong-Joon, FIFA Presidential Candidate, sent official letters of complaint to the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee and the Ethics Committee, with a copy of AFC’s form letter, pointing out that such activities clearly violate FIFA Statutes and Electoral Regulations and demanding an investigation and corrective measures.  Dr. Chung revealed these facts at a press conference on September 3.

In a letter dated September 3, FIFA’s Ad-hoc Electoral Committee informed Dr. Chung that the committee judged AFC’s activities not to have violated any rules or regulations.

Coincidentally, on the same day, AFC released its own press statement, claiming that its distribution of the form letters did not violate any regulations.

A thorough review of the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee’s letter and AFC’s statement shows that the committee hastily concluded its inquiries into this critical incident in mere three days citing lack of evidence without an in-depth investigation of relevant persons involved.  We object to this conclusion in the strongest possible terms.

Even though it has been verified that AFC systematically distributed form letters in support of Mr. Platini, the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee did not even look into the possibility of a coordination between AFC and Mr. Platini, arguing that the committee only has jurisdiction over presidential candidates’ activities and thus could not interfere in AFC’s activities.  This is tantamount to voluntarily forfeiting the committee’s duty to ensure the fairness of the election for FIFA President.

For its part, the AFC’s press statement (1) did not even make reference to the form letters, a copy of which we provided, (2) did not deny that AFC sent the form letters and (3) did not deny that AFC as a regional Confederation campaigned for Mr. Platini.

As Dr. Chung already revealed during the September 3 press conference, a vice president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) circulated similar form letters to its member associations, but CAF deemed his behavior highly improper and took measures to rectify the situation.

CAF and AFC’s radically different responses to the same incident clearly show that the two confederations have fundamentally different

understanding of its seriousness.  If the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee thinks that the AFC’s activities was not illegal, then CAF’s corrective measures constitute an obstruction of a legitimate campaign activity.  In this case, FIFA should take disciplinary actions against CAF.  If, however, CAF’s corrective measures are judged to be proper, AFC’s activities should be categorized as an electoral fraud and FIFA should take disciplinary actions against AFC and implement relevant measures to rectify the current situation.  Instead, FIFA maintains the contradictory stance that both AFC and CAF’s actions are legitimate.

We believe that AFC sending form letters containing Mr. Platini’s initials, MP, to its member associations while urging support for Mr. Platini clearly violates FIFA Statutes and Electoral Regulations.  Therefore, we urge the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee, once again, to promptly take the following three actions:

(1)   Refer this case to the Investigatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee in accordance with FIFA Electoral Regulations,

(2)   Conduct a thorough investigation to see if AFC President Sheikh Salman, UEFA President and FIFA Presidential Candidate Michel Platini, and officials at CAF and other Confederations plotted this incident together,

(3)   Take immediate measures to nullify any “support” for the candidature of Platini received through the form letters sent by AFC, the Vice President of CAF and/or any other Confederation.

We would like to once again point out that the FIFA Ad-hoc Electoral Committee reaching a hasty conclusion without having conducted a thorough investigation of relevant facts and parties, will be regarded as being tantamount to covering up an election fraud and, thus once again, urge the committee to conduct a thorough investigation of this matter.

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