Motorsport UK threatens taking legal action against FIA amid “erosion of accountability”

Motorsport UK chairman David Richards has threatened to take authorized motion in opposition to the FIA except it addresses what he referred to as an “erosion of accountability” below president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s management.

Writing an handle to Motorsport UK members, Richards – who was just lately prevented from attending a World Motor Sport Council meeting after refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement – highlighted “considerations in regards to the good governance throughout the FIA”.

In a lengthly missive, Richards explained his decision to initially back Ben Sulayem’s election marketing campaign solely to then define how there had been “a definite failure” to fulfill “guarantees” of full transparency.

He wrote: “For a while now, I’ve had considerations in regards to the erosion of accountability and good governance throughout the FIA.

“As you will have seen within the press, a problem has just lately emerged that has compelled me to take a stand and wishes a proof.

“To begin with, let me flip the clock again to a bit of over three years in the past once we, alongside the Royal Vehicle Membership, supported Mohammed Ben Sulayem in his bid to grow to be the subsequent president of the FIA.

“A lot of you have been probably shocked that we did not assist the British candidate, Graham Stoker, however the [Motorsport UK] board met with each candidate groups and was satisfied by the properly thought out plans that Mohammed’s marketing campaign workforce introduced, which very a lot aligned with our personal views of the way in which the FIA ought to remodel itself.

“The important thing messages of their presentation have been: A hands-off president who can be non-executive and delegate the day-to-day working of the FlA to an expert govt workforce.

“The appointment of an empowered and succesful CEO to run the FIA to skilled requirements.

“Full transparency of actions and the very best requirements of sporting governance.”

Richards defined how he feels Ben Sulayem had did not ship on his manifesto guarantees and can also be involved in regards to the latest departures from the FIA.

Ben Sulayem has additionally just lately pushed through changes to the organisation’s governance structure to dilute the ethics and audit committee’s energy.

Richards added: “I am afraid that during the last three years there was a definite failure to fulfill these guarantees.

“In actual fact, the scenario has progressively worsened with media reviews confirming that quite a few senior members of the FIA and volunteer officers have both been fired or have resigned below an opaque cloud.

“Moreover, the scope of the audit and ethics committees has been severely restricted and now lacks autonomy from the authority of the president, whereas our UK consultant, who challenged sure issues, was summarily eliminated together with the chair of the audit committee.”

Richards defined that the FIA’s calls for to signal an NDA then prompted him to talk out.

He mentioned: “This has grow to be more and more worrying and the ultimate straw for me, three weeks in the past, was being requested to signal a brand new confidentiality settlement that I considered a gagging order.

“On the time of my appointment to the World Motor Sport Council in 2021, I signed a confidentiality settlement and actually was already certain by Article 4 of the FIA Code of Ethics.

“I stay dedicated to my confidentiality obligations below this current settlement and Article 4, which stay in impact.

“Nevertheless, the brand new confidentiality settlement went far additional than this and, at every week’s discover, I used to be instructed that if I did not signal it, I might be barred from the subsequent World Motor Sport Council.”

Richards mentioned the NDA meant the FIA “at its personal discretion, may determine if anybody breached the phrases of the brand new confidentiality settlement with no course of or body of reference”.

He additionally famous that any breach triggers “an instantaneous high-quality of €50,000 and a risk of undisclosed damages”.

He concluded that successfully making a “gagging order on volunteer representatives will not be how a member-owned and pushed organisation ought to behave”.

Richards has now mentioned Motorsport UK would take authorized motion in opposition to the FIA except the problems raised are addressed.

It’s a devastating blow to Ben Sulayem’s popularity in a 12 months the place he’s getting ready for re-election.

As but, there is no such thing as a opposition, nonetheless Richards’ strongly-worded letter is extremely prone to trigger a response in a method or one other.