The increasingly tedious fight to become the new FIA President has seemingly reached new lows of childishness, after a key supporter of Jean Todt's campaign was accused of using bullying tactics to try and secure votes for the Ferrari man.
The scrap between Todt and former rally champion Ari Vatanen has been plagued by controversy in recent weeks, with Vatanen facing claims that he had run a "negative campaign" and FIA employees accused of openly lobbying on Todt's behalf.
The latest claim, as reported in the UK's Mail on Sunday newspaper, is that someone called Surinder Thatthi, who is Todt's nomination for "Sport Vice President of the FIA", has made threats to the former president of the Federation of Motor Sport Clubs in Uganda, Jack Wavumunno, regarding his choice for FIA president.
According to Wavumunno, which is not an easy name to type, Thatthi called him twice during August, on both occasions suggesting strongly that he vote for Todt. The first call contained suggestions that supporting The People's Ari would "not be in the interests" of Wavumunno, while the second call implyed that a sponsor for the Ugandan club could be found if he were to support the Frenchman.
"Surinder Thatthi said it would not be in the interests of me, or the FMU, if I stood against him for the WMSC and the FMU did not vote for Jean Todt. I felt it was a veiled threat," Wavumunno was quoted as saying.
"In the second call, he said he was aware there was money outstanding from the FMU's subscription to the FIA and he had a sponsor who could pay that, but only on the condition that I withdrew my candidacy and we gave our vote to his candidate, Todt.
"I told him the Federation was making arrangements to pay the money and did not need to sell that vote."
Predictably, the allegations were quickly disputed by Thatthi, but the Mail on Sunday has claimed that it has seen telephone records that prove Thatthi's mobile phone did call the Ugandan o August 29th and September 11th.
The records also contain a call to another former Ugandan motorsport president, David Bitalo, on August 29th.
The allegations are set to ramp up the controversy surrounding the vote, scheduled to take place this coming Friday. Vatanen has already approached the French courts in an effort to ensure that the vote is "seen as fair".
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