ZURICH — (CNN) It’s an organization mired in allegations of corruption and wrongdoing, and now key figures within FIFA have turned on each other with threats of litigation.
Chung Mong-joon, the South Korean candidate for the presidency of world football’s governing body, says he plans to launch a $100 million lawsuit against current chief Sepp Blatter.
Billionaire businessman Chung labeled Blatter a “hypocrite” and a “liar” while addressing the Leaders in Sport Business Summit in London Wednesday.
The proposed lawsuit centers on Blatter’s refusal to reveal his wages and expenses during a FIFA Executive Committee meeting in 2002.
According to the legal advice Chung says he has received, he says he could sue Blatter for $100 million in “damages and compensation proportionate to the damage he inflicted on FIFA.”
“Back in 2002, during an ExCo meeting I asked President Blatter his salary and expenses but he refused,” Chung told reporters.
“Naturally for President Blatter to get paid without ExCo approval is embezzlement. That is why I plan to sue Mr. Blatter on his embezzlement in court,” he said.
“In this day when you can find out the salary of a company president or a prime minister any time, we still don’t know what Mr Blatter’s salary is.”
Chung added: “Everyone is calling for Mr. Blatter’s resignation because they know that he is the source of the problems. Whenever I speak to football leaders, most of them agree Mr. Blatter is corrupt — but they will never speak out.”
Blatter has so far not responded to Chung’s allegations and his lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
The 79-year-old head of football’s world governing body is currently under investigation by the Swiss authorities for “criminal mismanagement” and is suspected of signing a contract that was “unfavorable to FIFA” and making a “disloyal payment” to Michel Platini, the head of European governing body UEFA.
Blatter has denied those allegations and says there has been no wrongdoing on his part.
Blatter, who has been in charge of FIFA since 1998, will step down in February despite defeating Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein in May’s election.
He announced his decision in June after several key FIFA officials were arrested in Zurich at the request of U.S. investigators.
Chung also wants Blatter and Jerome Valcke, the general secretary of of FIFA who is currently suspended pending an investigation into ticket fraud allegations, to face legal action over a sponsorship row between VISA and Mastercard.
In 2007, FIFA paid $90 million to settle a case with Mastercard, which had been a World Cup sponsor for 16 years before losing the contract to VISA.
Valcke, then a marketing director, was relieved of his duties after being suspended for leaking details of the sponsorship talks with Mastercard to VISA before being re-hired later.
“In the VISA-Mastercard case, the judge said FIFA is not fit to use the ‘Fair Play’ slogan,” Chung said.
“The judge used the word ‘lied’ 13 times in her verdict — those lies cost FIFA $100 million.
“The case should have been dealt with as a criminal case, not a civil case. That was corruption. Why should FIFA pay the fine for Mr Blatter and Mr Valcke’s corruption? They should pay the fine from their own pockets.”
Chung is himself currently facing suspension from FIFA after being hit with several charges relating to violations to the organization’s code of ethics.
The charges, which Chung strenuously denies, relate to the bidding process or the 2018 World Cup in Russia and 2022 tournament in Qatar.
He has accused Blatter and his “FIFA cronies” of trying to sabotage his presidential campaign.
“Ever since I announced my candidacy, numerous leaks from the Investigatory Chamber have been made to the press,” Chung, who was speaking at the Leaders Sport Business Summit 2015, added.
“The most recent leak even specified dates on which the Ethics Committee would announce sanctions against me. They learned this from ‘highly-placed’ FIFA executive committee and ethics committee sources.”
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