FIFA Elections: Liberia FA boss wants Domenico Scala to step aside

He may be out of the race but he’s certainly keeping an eagle eye on proceedings.

Outspoken president of the Liberian Football Association, Musa Bility might just throw FIFA’s forthcoming presidential elections off gear.

Bility who failed an eligibility check to contest the FIFA presidency is raising red flags over the credibility of Domenic Scala, the Chairman of FIFA’s ad-hoc electoral committee whom he says is in a conflict of interest position.

He wants Scala to withdraw from his position by Thursday lest he proceeds to the Court of Arbitration for Sports.

Scala, a Swiss-born Italian and Claudio Sulser, a Swiss national, withdrew from their positions ahead of the 2015 elections which elected the embattled FIFA President Sepp Blatter because they shared nationality with him and did not want any potential conflict of interest situation.

Musa Bility says Scala must again refrain from presiding over the upcoming elections because he shares nationality with yet another presidential candidate – Gianni Infantino.

Infantino, one of the five candidates for the FIFA presidency, was born in Switzerland and has Italian roots.

Musa Bility, in a letter to Domenico Scala on Monday, noted that “Article 7.4 of the Electoral Regulations is clear that any member of the Ad-Hoc Electoral Committee who has a conflict of interest … is thereby barred from sitting as a member of the Committee and must be replaced.”

But this interpretation of the law is being challenged by Andreas Bantel who is a spokesperson for Scala.

“The fact that a member of the ad-hoc electoral committee has the same nationality as a candidate does not result in a conflict of interest,” Bantel told the BBC adding “there is no such provision whatsoever in the relevant regulations of FIFA.”

Bantel further argued that Scala stepped aside for the last election because “the Swiss candidate (Blatter) was the incumbent President. Scala did so in order to avoid even any appearance of a potential conflict of interest situation and simply as a precautionary measure on a voluntary base.”

“For this election there are five candidates with no incumbent President. Hence there is no potential conflict of interest at all,” Bantel added.

Musa Bility, in his letter, also noted that the “unprecedented turmoil and damage” suffered by FIFA demands that the “fairness and integrity of the current electoral process are absolutely vital.”

It remains to be seen if the Liberian FA boss will go ahead with his threat to take up the matter with the Court of Arbitration for Sports.

If he does, it will further complicate the status of the world football governing body which has since last year had its president and some other top officials under investigated for corruption.