Chung denies ‘cynical and unethical’attacks

SEOUL: Fifa presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon said yesterday that payments he made to Haiti and Pakistan in 2010 were “charitable donations” and any attempt to use them as part of a reported ethics investigation was “cynical and unethical”.

“Recent media reports allege that Fifa has started an investigation into Fifa Honorary Vice-President Dr. Chung Mong-Joon’s 2010 donations to disaster relief funds to Haiti and Pakistan,” said the statement. “If these reports are true, we condemn this as a cynical and unethical effort by Fifa to misrepresent even charitable donations for political manipulation.”

Fifa’s ethics committee declined to comment on the matter, following their policy of not discussing any cases, or potential cases.

It is not the first time that Chung’s name has been raised in a potential ethics case.

In November, Chung featured in Fifa’s Ethics report into the bidding process for the World Cup in 2018 and 2022, in which South Korea made a bid to host.

The report followed an investigation led by US lawyer Michael Garcia and looked into letters that Chung sent, in late 2010, to Fifa executive committee members about a proposal to establish a “Global Football Fund” supporting football development.

“According to those letters, Korea intended to raise $777-million from 2011 to build new football infrastructure and renovate existing facilities,” said the report, which added that the fund was linked to South Korea’s 2022 bid. – Reuters