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PARIS: Calls for the resignation of Max Mosley, the president of
world motor sport’s governing body, the FIA, came from several
major national federations on May 29. The 68-year-old Mosley’s
lawyer last week filed a lawsuit in Paris against the British
tabloid News of the World over its claims about Mosley’s part in
an alleged Nazi-style sex orgy with five London prostitutes.
The major federations wrote to Mosley in a joint
letter, saying, “We firmly believe that the only respectable way
for FIA and yourself to sort this matter out is to ensure an orderly
transition by resigning.”
The motor sport federations concerned were from
the USA (AAA and AATA), Austria (OEMTC), Belgium, (TCB), Brazil (CCB),
Canada (CAA), Denmark (FDM), Finland (AL), France (FFA), Germany (ADAC),
Hungary (MAK), India (FIAA), Israel (MEMSI), Japan (JAF), Spain (RACC
and RACE), Sweden (M), Switzerland (TCS) and the Netherlands (KNAC).
“The FIA is in a critical situation with its
image, its reputation and its credibility is severely eroded,” the
federations added.
“The damage is getting worse for every extra
day this situation continues. There is no possibility of going back
to the way things were.”
An FIA extraordinary general assembly will meet
in Paris today to decide the fate of its president, whose mandate
technically runs until November 2009. The national federations said
in a letter that they regretted Mosley did not agree with their
compromise of him quitting in November should today’s vote of
confidence go against him.
According to the autosport.com website, Mosley,
who has repeatedly said he wants to stay in his position, has once
more refused to resign even after his letter from the federations.
“It’s the same as I have said in previous
letters,” Mosley replied.
“The communication I have had with presidents
of the federations have mainly been in my favor. Consequently, I
have no other choice than to submit this matter to FIA members in
their entirety.
“I cannot ignore the advice of the majority
and simply resign,” Mosley said.
Mosley, whose father Oswald led the British
fascist party in the 1930s and was interned during World War II, has
vehemently denied any Nazi connotation in his case.
-- AFP
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