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UPDATE: Mosley Apologizes, Vows to Stay On at FIA
Embattled FIA president not planning to step down as fallout from video scandal widens.
RACER & autosport.com  | http://www.racer.com/speedtv  |  Posted April 01, 2008   Paris, France
Mosley: standing firm (LAT photo)

In his first public address since the scandal triggered by a video report from the News of the World tabloid’s website, FIA president Max Mosley has apologized for his actions but also insisted that the incident’s aftermath will have no effect on his role as president of the motorsport governing body.

Mosley sent out a letter addressed to the presidents of all national racing bodies that form the FIA, plus members of the FIA Senate, the World Motor Sport Council and the World Council for Mobility and the Automobile. In the statement, the 67-year-old Briton blames the leaking of the video – in which he appears taking part in a Nazi-themed orgy with five prostitutes – on a “covert” operation to discredit him. Mosley also denied that the five-hour orgy had any Nazi connotations, although some of the prostitutes clearly appear wearing SS uniforms in the video.

"From information provided to me by an impeccable high-level source close to the UK police and security services, I understand that over the last two weeks or so, a covert investigation of my private life and background has been undertaken by a group specializing in such things, for reasons and clients as yet unknown. I have had similar but less well-sourced information from France.

"Regrettably, you are now familiar with the results of this covert investigation and I am very sorry if this has embarrassed you or the club. Not content with publicizing highly personal and private activities, which are, to say the least, embarrassing, a British tabloid newspaper published the story with the claim that there was some sort of Nazi connotation to the matter. This is entirely false.

"It is against the law in most countries to publish details of a person's private life without good reason. The publications by The News of the World are a wholly unwarranted invasion of my privacy and I intend to issue legal proceedings against the newspaper in the UK and other jurisdictions.

"I have received a very large number of messages of sympathy and support from those within the FIA and the motor sport and motoring communities generally, suggesting that my private life is not relevant to my work and that I should continue in my role," he continued, answering to the calls for his resignation coming from various sources, including Holocaust-awareness organizations. "I am grateful and with your support I intend to follow this advice. I shall now devote some time to those responsible for putting this into the public domain but above all I need to repair the damage to my immediate family who are the innocent and unsuspecting victims of this deliberate and calculated personal attack.

"You can, however be certain that I will not allow any of this to impede my commitment to the work of the FIA."

SPEED's Steve Matchett talks Mosley Family history! SEE THE VIDEO
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