LONDON: FIFA presidential hopeful Chung Mong-joon, who says he is facing a 15 year ban from the game, said on Wednesday that if he was guilty of attempted vote-rigging, then Britain’s Prime Minister and Prince William should face charges with him.

Chung, who also said he would sue “hypocrite and liar” Sepp Blatter for embezzlement over his salary and expenses, denied he had behaved improperly during the awarding of World Cup hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Brushing aside claims he had attempted to strike a deal with England during that process, which saw Russia and Qatar win hosting rights, Chung said the meeting in question had been attended by David Cameron, the British prince and then English FA representative, Geoff Thompson.

“Then they should try all these people, Prince William and Prime Minister Cameron too,” he told the ‘Leaders in Sport Business Summit’ in London.

Chung said he was being charged with violating the FIFA ethics code on six counts. If found guilty, he would not be able to stand in the election to find a successor to Blatter.

FIFA’s Ethics Committee has declined to comment on Chung’s allegations but according to chamber member Abdoulaye Diop, the commission is meeting in Zurich to discuss the cases of Blatter, Chung and fellow presidential candidate Michel Platini.

The Senegalese official, in a statement published in Dakar, said that the commission has been sitting in the Swiss city since Monday and would continue until Friday.

Swiss prosecutors last month opened a criminal investigation into Blatter over a TV rights contract he signed and a 2011 payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.1 million) to Platini, whose status the Swiss attorney general has described as being between a witness and an accused person.

Both have denied any wrongdoing with Platini’s spokesman telling reporters at Wednesday’s events that the UEFA president has nothing to hide over the payment.

“The president feels that he has given satisfactory explanations to the authorities that are dealing with this case,” Pedro Pinto said. “He feels that there is nothing else to add because he feels he’s done nothing wrong and therefore he doesn’t need to justify himself publicly at the moment.”

Chung told a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday he was being charged with violating six articles from FIFA’s Code of Ethics, which he said stemmed from his “support” for South Korea’s 2022 World Cup bid and his proposal to launch a Global Football Fund.

Turning his fire on the outgoing head of world football on Wednesday, Chung said he had called on Blatter to declare his salary and expenses during a FIFA meeting in 2002. The Swiss has never done so.

“For him to get paid without Exco [executive committee] approval is embezzlement. This is why I am going to sue Mr Blatter,” Chung said.

“Mr Blatter, in short, is a hypocrite and a liar,” Chung added, saying he would give back any amount he won in court to FIFA’s development programmes.

Chung is one of three leading candidates for the FIFA presidency along with Platini and Prince Ali bin al Hussein, another former FIFA vice president from Jordan.

Blatter is determined to stay in power until the election, but he could also be suspended by the FIFA ethics committee before then.

“I can assure you that I’ll stop on Feb. 26, 2016,” Blatter was quoted as telling German lifestyle magazine Bunte in an interview published Wednesday.

“That’s definitely the end. But not a day sooner. By then we’ll have found a really good candidate who’ll make a great new president.”

In the interview, Blatter said he is being “convicted without any evidence of any wrongdoing on my part.”

“This is just an investigation, no charges. I’m dealing with the process and cooperating with the authorities,” Blatter said. “I’m well. I’ll survive it. FIFA is still functioning well and the elected president is staying in office.”

FIFA sponsors McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Visa and Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch called for Blatter to quit last Friday but the president rebuffed those demands.

“They’re only the Americans. I’ll be in contact with our partners again,” Blatter said. “Adidas in Germany, Gazprom in Russia and Hyundai and Kia in South Korea are still behind me as before.”

Published in Dawn, October 8th , 2015

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