#I'm not an expert though so don't rely on me as the oracle here

[yesterdayiwrote]

So, having an expense budget for a position like his is not unusual. There will be costs to him undertaking his role - travel, accommodation, dining, wardrobe etc - and the expense budget is essentially the FIA saying "We'll pay to cover these aspects of the role so you're not out of pocket", BUT as with most corporate roles (or government roles) there will be ALOT of rules in place as to how this money is spent in order to comply with ethics regulations and he must provide receipts and disclosures to ensure he's abiding to them - which he's refused to do. Red Flag Number One

There's really then two separate issues raising from this.

He's wanting to forgo expenses budgets meaning he circumvents disclosing who he's paying money to and what for. Is this money coming out of his pocket, or are these things being covered by people who may want to buy his favour? Gifts should also be disclosed, but if it's falling as something that would usually be expendable he can claim he paid for it out of his own pocket with no further scrutiny. Mr I M Rwandan gives him the money for a 5* hotel stay in Las Vegas ... then 2 months later they announce the FIA Gala is in Kigali. People might have legit questions but there's now no paper trail for this. (NOT saying that happened but as an example)

The money for this fund isn't his to make a fund with. He may feel he has the funds to cover his own expenses, but future applicants to the role may not. So in order to take on the role, they have to propose to pull the funding from The Presidents Fund. Given it benefits the people who will be voting in the election, its an immediate campaign killer and means the FIA president role can only be taken by people with the funds or backers to fund their undertaking of the work. The fund exists while HE is in the role, and acts as a carrot to dangle for people to keep him in the role. He's using FIA money to fund his own reelection chances. Putting money into grassroots motorsport is fine, but it shouldn't really be going directly to voting clubs for ethics reasons.

There's loads of issues raised from this for sure, but those 2 stick out as major red flags with regards to where funds are going and who is paying for what...

Oh the GPDA knew what they were doing by pulling on this thread...