FIDE Finances

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  • Sid Belzberg
    replied
    Re: Show us the original letter, Mr. Treasurer! If there is one!

    Originally posted by Nigel Hanrahan View Post
    Canadian GM Kevin Spraggett has weighed in on this issue. And, from what Spraggett notes, it sure seems like most of this thread is simply re-gurgitated animal droppings. lol.

    FIDE caught lying about UBS closure !!



    See http://www.spraggettonchess.com/fide-caught-lying/

    Supplemental: Kirsan takes his gloves off!

    A word of caution here. Spraggett's articles are worth taking a look at, but his weblog is practically pornographic with photos of nude women, etc., so be warned.
    In the second article FIDE Treasurer Siegel replies to the purported issues Kirsan alleges. Looks to me like Siegel initial letter is accurate. FIDE is clearly damaged almost beyond repair.
    Adrian Siegel wrote:
    "Following my letter dated February 12, 2018, several questions and rumors have come up. In particular, complete misunderstanding has been seen among journalists. Therefore, the most common questions and rumors shall be addressed below in order to set the records straight:

    • Is FIDE or Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on the sanction list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury?

    It is not comprehensible at all that the rumor has come up that FIDE might be on the sanction list. In the letter of February 12, this was clearly written.

    The sports association FIDE was never on the sanction list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

    On the contrary, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as private person is on the sanction list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

    Of course, we can’t avoid that some companies (potential sponsors) or some private persons do not distinguish among this fact and just say ‘if the president of FIDE is on the sanction list then the entire FIDE is on this list’.


    • Are FIDE’s accounts frozen?

    In the letter dated February 12, 2018, it was clearly written that the Swiss bank UBS will close our accounts but it has not been said that our accounts are or will be frozen. Our accounts are not frozen at all and FIDE is completely functional with its finances.


    • Is FIDE bankrupt?

    This is another claim without basis. In 2016, Fide has made a surplus of around 850,000 euros and in 2017 FIDE had another surplus of around 500,000 euros. Moreover, FIDE’s assets could have been substantially augmented again. Therefore, allegations of bankruptcy have to be seen as cheap propaganda.


    • How can Kirsan Ilyumshinov ‘damage’ FIDE if he has withdrawn from “any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE”?

    As it was written in the letter dated February 12, 2018, FIDE’s Presidential Board decided on December 6, 2015, that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov withdraws from “any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE”. Hereby, there was made a strong statement in order to show that FIDE is not involved in Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s private business at all and this message has been forwarded to our bank as well. However, despite this clear decision of the Presidential Board (with acceptance by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov) in the following months Kirsan Ilyumzhinov travelled around the world and repeatedly stated that he is still fully in charge in FIDE. Of course, hereby others became confused and wondered whether Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had withdrawn from legal, financial and operational functions or he remained in his previous complete functions. Therefore, the decision of December 6, 2015, has been repeatedly renewed by the Presidential Board but the problem remained.


    • Why doesn’t FIDE just remove Kirsan Ilyumzhinov from his presidency?

    In FIDE’s statute this option is not given. Thus, a president remains in his/her position for the entire elected term. This means, if an elected person does not want to resign from his/her position it is very difficult to handle such a problem.

    However, to protect FIDE the Presidential Board went as far as the statute allows (see above).


    • Isn’t the letter of February 12, 2018, just a maneuver prior to the election in September 2018?

    Not at all. It isn’t comprehensible how an independent Swiss bank should have been pressed for a decision. Moreover, since FIDE is facing technical problems for payments without an account no one has any interest in this process of the UBS. The closure of the accounts is a fact made by the bank and not by us. Thus, this is definitely not a pre-election maneuver.


    I hope that it was possible to address sufficiently the questions and baseless rumors. Indeed, FIDE faces a problem due to the presence of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on the sanction list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The main effort of FIDE has now to be that it has not to suffer from any personal problems. I can assure you that the treasurer and the office in Athens are working hard to find a good solution for FIDE.


    Sincerely yours



    Prof. Dr. Adrian M. Siegel FIDE Treasurer[/quote}
    https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9530&start=45#p211432"

    Leave a comment:


  • Nigel Hanrahan
    replied
    Show us the original letter, Mr. Treasurer! If there is one!

    Canadian GM Kevin Spraggett has weighed in on this issue. And, from what Spraggett notes, it sure seems like most of this thread is simply re-gurgitated animal droppings. lol.

    FIDE caught lying about UBS closure !!

    Originally posted by GM Kevin Spraggett
    It had been suspected for atleast 8 months that the FIDE executive board had been using the FIDE website in a politically motivated dis-information campaign in an effort to discredit the democratically elected FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

    The latest example of dis-information appears to be an over-baked letter dated February 12 from the FIDE treasurer Dr. Adrian Siegel, claiming that FIDE's bank in Switerzland, UBS, was closing its bank account effective immediately. Dr. Siegel presented no evidence to back up this claim.

    When contacted, a UBS spokesperson refused to confirm or deny the allegation, stating that any information about clients accounts is confidential.

    The FIDE president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, yesterday had his London solicitor, Nigel Kushner, make the following comment:

    "Mr Kirsan Ilyumzhinov denies the outrageous and false allegations made against him and is not aware that FIDE's bank accounts have been frozen by UBS. Mr Ilyumzhinov believes that the allegations form part of an ongoing smear campaign related to a power struggle at FIDE in advance of elections taking place this year.

    Readers will recall that news of the February 12 letter quickly spread thru MSM, none of which questioned the veracity of the facts. Today, 4 days later, calmer heads prevail and now calls for the treasurer's resignation are beginning to be heard.

    I will keep my readers up to date as this story develops....

    Readers might also want to take a quick peek at a shoddy piece of journalism over at Chess.Com by Peter Dogger where he quotes the disgraced FIDE treasurer as saying that MSM's coverage on the subject was all based on "a misunderstanding".

    Famous last words! - the sad truth is that Siegel has absolutely no credibilty left after screwing and misleading everybody: Kirsan, UBS, Reuters, The Telegraph Bloomberg and numerous other MSM icons, as well as the entire gullible online chess community.
    See http://www.spraggettonchess.com/fide-caught-lying/

    Supplemental: Kirsan takes his gloves off!

    A word of caution here. Spraggett's articles are worth taking a look at, but his weblog is practically pornographic with photos of nude women, etc., so be warned.
    Last edited by Nigel Hanrahan; Wednesday, 21st February, 2018, 04:11 PM. Reason: punctuation glitches 2

    Leave a comment:


  • Victor Plotkin
    replied
    Re: FIDE Finances

    4 years ago, after 2014-Olympiad in Tromso I wrote an article for the CFC magazine. Here some related parts (copy-paste):

    "The FIDE presidential campaign was very active this year and attracted a lot of attention in Canada. Long and hot discussions about the Canadian vote took the central place on different Canadian chess forums. I have to say, this issue wasn't so critical for the Canadian Team in Norway. We never discussed this campaign on our team meetings. From individual conversations with the players, I know that they had different opinions, but no one was really care about the result of the election. Counting players and captains, Ilyumzhinov was slightly more popular for our team in general.

    Kasparov spent whole 2 weeks in Norway, trying to improve his chances. The slogans with his picture were almost everywhere in Tromso. However, his loss was imminent. I expected him to lose long time ago, but the final voting score 110 - 61 surprised myself. I was positive about Garry's ability to perform better than Karpov did 4 year ago; but actually the difference was even bigger this time. My personal prediction is that Kirsan will lose the next elections, maybe even to Garry. Although, I would prefer to see another person for this position.

    The main reason for this forecast is a current strong and fast deterioration in economical and political situation in Russia."

    Leave a comment:


  • David Ottosen
    replied
    Re: FIDE Finances

    As long as FIDE officials can still receive their monthly bribes, the crisis will be ignored

    Leave a comment:


  • Vlad Drkulec
    replied
    Re: FIDE Finances

    I was going to make some reference the beam in Neil's eye but perhaps it is just a parasitic worm or 14 of them....

    https://twitter.com/i/moments/963525...=244+273027088

    Leave a comment:


  • Neil Frarey
    replied
    Re: FIDE Finances

    And what does that say about those who support(ed) Ilyumzhinov ... such as the Chess Federation of Canada's very own Drkulec?

    Prolly too late to collect that missing 60k?

    Time to drain the CFC swamp!


    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43053626
    Last edited by Neil Frarey; Wednesday, 14th February, 2018, 02:22 AM.

    Leave a comment:


  • Sid Belzberg
    replied
    Re: FIDE Finances

    Until Kirsan is kicked out it will get worst, first the banks, next Chess federations will be forced to cease and desist doing business with FIDE as well as tournament organizers arbiters etc. It was predicted that Kasparov would be the destruction of FIDE by certain Kasparov detractors here but they had it ass backwards! Time to drain the FIDE swamp! Kirsan should have never been allowed to be involved with FIDE in any way shape or form after the sanctions were imposed. One should never underestimate OFAC. They are not easily fooled. Kirsan's past assurances of being removed from the sanctions list is utter nonsense. Out of 15,000 people that made it to this list almost no one has left it.
    https://www.treasury.gov/about/organ...s-Control.aspx

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43053626
    Last edited by Sid Belzberg; Wednesday, 14th February, 2018, 12:49 AM.

    Leave a comment:


  • Wayne Komer
    replied
    Re: FIDE Finances

    FIDE Finances

    February 13, 2018

    The Telegraph chimes in on the loss of the FIDE bank:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018...ident-accused/

    Excerpts:

    In a letter published on the Fide website, treasurer Dr Adrian Siegel revealed UBS had shut its bank accounts and the federation faces a "serious problem" paying bills just weeks before the Candidates, its flagship world championship play-off tournament in Berlin which has a prize fund of $460,000.

    It is doubtful whether any other bank will agree to take on Fide's accounts while Mr Ilyumzhinov remains president. Mr Ilyumzhinov, an eccentric former politician who claims he was abducted by aliens twice, has reigned as the king of chess for 23 years.

    But after the US Department of Justice's decision to investigate him, rumours of back-stabbing and in-fighting began to swirl around Fide.

    The embattled head was unable to attend the 2016 world chess championship held in New York for fear of arrest and became increasingly sidelined.

    Last year, Fide officially announced Mr Ilyumzhinov had stepped down but then backtracked when the former head of the Russian semi-autonomous republic of Kalmykia insisted it was "fake news".

    In a comment a spokesperson for UBS said: "We can't comment on whether individuals or organizations are clients of UBS. We follow all laws and regulations that are applicable to us."

    Leave a comment:


  • Wayne Komer
    started a topic FIDE Finances

    FIDE Finances

    FIDE Finances

    February 13, 2018

    Letter from FIDE Treasurer regarding FIDE Bank Account

    FIDE letterhead

    Zug, February 12, 2018

    Dear Members of the Executive Board
    Dear Members of the Presidential Board
    Dear Presidents and Delegates of National Federations
    Dear Chairpersons of the Commissions

    As FIDE's treasurer I am obligated to inform all of you about a serious problem FIDE is facing at the moment.

    On November 25th 2015 the U.S. Department of the Treasury has put Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on a sanction list due to 'Networks Providing Support to the Government of Syria, Including For Facilitating Syrian Government Oil Purchases from ISIL' (ISIL = Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant). Since then Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has unsuccessfully tried several times to be removed from this list and at the moment there is no hint at all that there will be a charge.

    In order to protect FIDE from the president's problem we gave him the time and space to solve his issues. On December 6th 2015 the Presidential Board unanimously took the decision that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov withdraws from "any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE". This presidential power given by the statute was then transferred to the Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos.

    Subsequently, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov informed FIDE at various occasions that he will be removed from the sanction list in the very near future. This information was given to our Swiss bank UBS and, hereby, we could keep our accounts. Now, however, after more than two years of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's presence on the sanction list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Swiss bank UBS has announced that they will immediately close our accounts. The white money strategy in Switzerland does not allow business to be done with institutions or persons on the sanction list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Thus, it was only a question of time until we faced this serious problem.

    In summary, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's problems severely damage FIDE's business activities and we have to look for a new bank connection. In the process of this change we anticipate some problems. However, we will do our best (so) that payments will not be delayed.

    Sincerely yours,

    Prof. Dr. Adrian M. Siegel
    FIDE Treasurer


    http://www.fide.com/component/conten...k-account.html
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