FIDE President reacts to Open Letter in ChessBase by GM Kouatly
My
attention has been drawn to the
publication on the Chessbase website www.chessbase.com
under the caption Election 06: Can FIDE be reformed? Open Letter by
Bachar Kouatly of 26 May 2006.
I would never have bothered to respond to this article especially because
as we have an election before us all sorts of rumors are in the air. But I
am forced to respond because in my over 10 years in FIDE, I have never had
to face such very low and false allegation against a principal official of
FIDE who enjoys my personal trust and respect at all times. It is a well known
fact in FIDE that Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos since the inception
of my administration, chose not to be involved in handling any financial matters
of FIDE. At no time did Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos personally receive
USD 1,000,000 as being alleged in Mr. Kouatly's Open Letter for the organization
of the 1999 World Chess Championship in Las Vegas. At no time did any single
dollar disappear.
Mr. Makropoulos has shown his outstanding ability through the years of organizing
dozens of World class chess events that have put his native Greece as one of
the fastest developing federations in the World. At the same time, and unlike
most new found critics, he never put his personal interest above that of FIDE.
He is the one person in FIDE who is very active and always canvassing for unity
in our organization. At all times, he is always consulting with me and not
making personal decisions in FIDE matters.
I would like to restate for the avoidance of doubt, that there has never
been any single incidence of corruption during my tenure as FIDE President.
No one member of our team has ever been found guilty of corruption neither
has any dollar disappeared from the accounts of FIDE. I therefore wish to sound
this note of warning to all those who may want to engage in using these unfounded
rumours to score an unfair political point to desist from these acts.
In the light of the above, Deputy President Makropoulos as well as other
members of my ticket, enjoy my implicit confidence and respect of not only
people in our camp in this year's elections but also of members of the opposing
ticket. The Chessfidelity ticket, representing all the Continents, enjoys the
full support of the great majority of our delegates. It is for this reason
that our ticket expects a landslide victory come 2nd June 2006.
Gens Una Sumus.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
FIDE President
Turin, Italy
27 May 2006
Deputy President G. Makropoulos' reaction
Concerning the libellous open
letter of Bachar Kouatly on the chessbase website of 26 May 2006 I would
like to say the following:
-
I am not surprised that Bachar has chosen to attack me and the Chessfidelity
ticket by using a dirty lie when he says that I actually stole USD 1,000,000
from Kirsan. This man has used similar methods to attack the FIDE President
in the FIDE elections in 1996 as well as insulting him in front of his
people in Elista in 1998.
-
Kouatly's tenure as Deputy President in the period 1995 to 1996 succeeded
in turning the great majority of the chess world against him and FIDE,
because it was soon realised that most of his actions were for his own
interest and not for FIDE. This was the very reason, in addition to his
lies, that led to his being dropped by the President from his team and
in the end he had to withdraw his candidacy from the elections in 1996.
-
I do not need to add anything more as the chess world has decided to consign
him and his methods to history.
-
All those people that are flirting with the ideas of corruption in FIDE
can only submit lies and shameful arguments as being used by Mr. Kouatly
in his open letter. This is a desperate effort to obtain some more votes
for the opposition. The greater majority of the delegates will definitely
vote for the truth.
Gens Una Sumus
Georgios Makropoulos
FIDE Deputy President
