FIA slams Vantanen legal action

Mr Ari Vatanen, one of the candidates for the FIA Presidency, has today served on the FIA an application to the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, asking the Court to impose a number of measures for the FIA election.

Had Mr Vatanen troubled to examine the procedures in place, he would understand that these in fact already provide more safeguards than those he is asking the Court to impose.

The FIA is therefore at a loss to explain the purpose of this legal action, if not merely to generate further negative publicity and to attempt to raise doubts about the honesty of FIA staff. This is despite the fact that a large team of FIA personnel has worked continuously over recent months to ensure that the new FIA President is elected in a dignified and democratic way.

The FIA has retained a public official (a Huissier de Justice) to supervise the electoral process and the count. On 15 October the FIA circulated a note to all voting members outlining in detail the election process to be deployed and the role that the Huissier will play. This is available to download in the governance section of the FIA website.

This legal action follows a number of allegations made by Mr Vatanen to the media which attempt to call into question the integrity of the FIA's personnel and the FIA's election process. However, Mr Vatanen has not taken up an invitation to specify and substantiate his allegations.