Ben Sulayem removes Britain's Senate representative

BBC News

13 hours ago

Britain's representative on the FIA Senate has been removed by president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.Ben Cussons - vice-president of the Royal Automobile Club - had been on the senate for three and a half years after supporting Ben Sulayem's candidature for president of motorsport's governing body.He has been replaced by Azerbaijani Anar Alakbarov - known as a supporter and ally of Ben Sulayem.The senate is the FIA body responsible for financial oversight and governance structure.Cussons told BBC Sport: "I received correspondence from the president saying he was appointing my successor. He gave no reason why, and there was no timeline as to when this would happen."
He said his removal had taken him by surprise, pointing out he and David Richards - the head of British motorsport's governing body, MotorsportUK - had been "staunch supporters of Mohammed in his election year and his then manifesto"."As far as I am aware, I haven't fallen out with him," he added. "I have written to him for clarification and I haven't had a reply. I'm a great believer in transparency and good governance."Cussons is in dispute with Ben Sulayem over his pushback on a requirement to sign a stricter non-disclosure agreement regarding FIA business. He says he is "awaiting a reply from the FIA" having made his position clear.His removal comes just weeks after a change to the rules governing the body's composition at the FIA general assembly.They gave the FIA president power to appoint or dismiss the required four "independent and qualified" members of the senate.Previously, the president could only propose their appointment or removal, which required confirmation by the remaining 12 members.The reason given by the FIA for the change was to provide "more flexibility in having the expertise required for the many and varied topics [the senate] has to deal with and which may require an urgent decision".Critics said the potential requirement was already contained within other FIA rules, and that it was a transparent attempt to consolidate power in Ben Sulayem's hands.The other 12 senate members are four from the presidential team, including the president, and four elected by each of the world councils, for sport and mobility.The senate is empowered to take decisions over the FIA's rules - including those governing Formula 1 - when world councils are unable to meet.Cussons' dismissal follows the removal of a series of senior figures, all apparently because they have disagreed or clashed with Ben Sulayem.These include former senior steward Tim Mayer, who last week announced he was running against Ben Sulayem in December's presidential election, chief executive officer Natalie Robyn, FIA F1 race director Niels Wittich, compliance officer Paolo Basarri and the head of the audit committee, Bertrand Badre. Robert Reid resigned his position as the FIA vice-president for sport in March over what he described as a "standards breakdown" at the FIA.Richards has, in recent months, been critical of changes made by Ben Sulayem to the FIA's statutes, and has been banned from attending meetings of the FIA World Council because he refused to sign a stricter non-disclosure agreement imposed on members.The decision to impose stricter NDAs on world council members - which has also been resisted by a number of other members - followed Richards' criticisms of changes made to the statutes last December.An FIA spokesperson said the governing body "thanked Mr Cussons for his service during his time as a member of the FIA Senate".The spokesperson did not respond to questions as to why he had been removed, whether it had been planned before the statute changes, and whether there were any plans to remove other members.They also did not respond to a question as to whether it was right to form the conclusion this was an example of the sort of conduct warned about by opponents of the two most recent sets of statute changes, and evidence of what was described as a "weakening of the ability of the senate to perform oversight functions, and especially oversight of the president himself".The spokesperson instead explained the role of the senate, saying it "plays a crucial role in the governance of the FIA, ensuring effective oversight of its financial and administrative affairs while guiding the strategic implementation of its long-term vision across sport and mobility".They added: "The past year has marked a turning point in the federation's financial transformation, culminating with the FIA posting a significant operating profit for the first time since 2019."All proposed amendments to the FIA statutes were voted through by a super majority of FIA member clubs at the FIA general assemblies, in line with the democratic process which governs decision-making within the federation."The amendments to the FIA statutes further strengthen processes around governance and confidentiality."Alakbarov has been president of the Azerbaijan Automobile Federation since 2014 and is an assistant to the country's president, Ilham Aliyev.