Chung claims interference in FIFA presidential poll

South Korean FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-Joon on Thursday accused the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) of breaking the world governing body of football's rules to favour rival candidate Michel Platini.

Chung said the AFC, whose president Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has publicly supported Platini, had sent "unsolicited" letters to almost every AFC member association except for South Korea and Jordan.

Jordan's Prince Ali bin Hussein is also in the race.

The letter is a form letter, to be filled in by the national football association, expressing support for the UEFA president Platini and addressed to FIFA's secretary general, Chung said.

It states that "we wish to confirm that (INSERT NAME ASSOCIATION) is supporting only Mr. MP and, accordingly, we did not sign any other declaration of support for another candidate for the office of FIFA President", Chung said.

In Africa, a senior Confederation of African Football (CAF) official circulated the same form letters to its member associations.

But CAF later took measures to rectify the situation, according to Chung.

Of the 209 members who can vote for the FIFA president, 46 are in the AFC and 54 in the CAF.

"It is clear that the fairness of the FIFA presidential election has been seriously compromised", Chung said.

Such efforts seeking to influence each member association's right to propose candidates directly violate FIFA statutes, he said.

Chung claimed that Salman and Platini were taking advantage of their status as AFC and UEFA presidents respectively by seeking to influence the election process in breach of basic principles.

On August 31, Chung's side sent official letters to the FIFA AD-hoc Electoral Committee and the FIFA Ethics Committee, calling on them to investigate the case immediately and promptly institute remedies, he added.

Source: AFP