Motorsport UK chair threatens FIA with legal action over governance

The chairman of the UK’s governing body for motorsport has threatened the FIA with legal action, claiming recent changes to governance are against the FIA’s own statutes.

David Richards is the chairman of Motorsport UK and backed Mohammed Ben Sulayem (pictured at right, above, with Richards) during his bid to become FIA president in 2021. However, having been barred from attending a World Motor Sport Council meeting last month for failing to sign an additional confidentiality agreement, Richards says such a move “was in total breach of the FIA Statutes that require all elected members be given full access to meetings.”

In an open message to Motorsport UK membership, Richards says there has been “a distinct failure” to deliver the three pillars that encouraged him to back Ben Sulayem during his presidential campaign — namely hands-off leadership, the appointment of an empowered and capable CEO, and full transparency of actions — adding: “The situation has progressively worsened with media reports confirming that numerous senior members of the FIA and volunteer officials have either been fired or have resigned under an opaque cloud.

“Furthermore, the scope of the Audit and Ethics Committees has been severely limited and now lacks autonomy from the authority of the President, while our UK representative, who challenged certain matters, was summarily removed along with the Chair of the Audit Committee.

“Various techniques have also been deployed with the effect of limiting the proper function of the World Motor Sport Council, primarily the use of e-voting which removes the opportunity for much needed discussion and debate on key subjects.”

Having already signed a confidentiality agreement to be part of the WMSC in 2021, and being bound by the FIA Code of Ethics, Richards says he regarded the latest confidentiality agreement as a gagging order.

“The key clauses I objected to were:

Everything was now considered confidential, without any qualification, preventing me from necessarily sharing what I considered to be relevant information
The FIA, at its own discretion, could decide if anyone breached the terms of the new confidentiality agreement with no process or frame of reference
There was an immediate fine of €50,000 [$54,000] for any breach and a threat of undisclosed damages

“The construction of this new confidentiality agreement does not comply with the Statutes of the FIA and contradicts the promise of transparent governance we had voted for.”

Richards — who says he understands the need to keep certain topics confidential — claims he was told he would be barred from the WMSC meeting if he did not sign the agreement and was denied a request to have the matter be debated at that meeting.

Having been barred, Motorsport UK lawyers and its French legal counsel challenged the FIA on its actions, but says no response was received. As a result, Richards published his message and threatened to take the matter further.

“Integrity is a core value of Motorsport UK and one that is central to who we are,” Richards wrote. “Our Board and Executive Team will always operate in an open and transparent manner so that our members trust and respect our voice. We are fully aligned with Sport England and UK Sport’s Code for Governance which sets out gold-standard levels of transparency, accountability and integrity in sports governance.

“It’s therefore beholden on us to demand the same values of our governing body, the FIA. These actions by the FIA are in breach of their own Statutes. As a result, we have informed the FIA that unless they address the issues we’ve raised, we will be engaging in further legal action.

“In a year when the President will either be re-elected or a new one appointed, it is more important than ever to remind the FIA of their responsibilities and continue to hold them to account on behalf of the sport and their members worldwide, and that’s what I intend to do.”