A significant revision of the internal accountability structure within the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of international motorsports, is set to be voted on by the FIA General Assembly on December 13. The proposed changes focus on how ethics complaints are handled and who will oversee any resulting investigations. According to the BBC, the new rules will alter the flow of such complaints, removing the independent powers of the audit and ethics committees to investigate financial wrongdoings. Instead, complaints will be directed to the FIA president and the president of the FIA Senate, bypassing the broader FIA Senate entirely.
The new regulations propose that the audit and ethics committees would only carry out an initial assessment to decide whether a full investigation is needed, eliminating their previous authority to conduct these investigations. If a complaint involves the FIA president, it will be directed to the FIA Senate president, and vice versa if the Senate president is the subject. The proposed rules also diminish the role of the FIA compliance officer, who would no longer be required to report irregularities to the ethics or audit committees. Additionally, the audit committee’s responsibilities would be narrowed, focusing solely on reviewing the methodology behind accounting practices, rather than assessing the actual accounting methods and budgets.
These changes follow controversy surrounding current FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who has faced multiple allegations. Ben Sulayem was accused of establishing a controversial “president’s fund” that improperly paid member clubs responsible for electing the FIA leader. He was also alleged to have influenced decisions regarding the penalty to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and pressured officials concerning the certification of the Las Vegas Grand Prix track. However, the ethics committee found no evidence to support these claims.
Several members of the audit committee who investigated Ben Sulayem earlier this year, including committee head Bertrand Badre and member Tom Purves, were fired, as was compliance officer Paolo Basarri. These dismissals followed the departure of former FIA CEO Natalie Robyn in May, who cited mismanagement and financial dysfunction as key reasons for leaving. The FIA declined to comment when approached by the BBC.
