Pound aims for CAS presidency
2008-04-02 15:19
Berne - Former anti-doping chief Dick Pound will be running for sport's highest judicial position on Thursday when an election takes place to name the new president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The 19 members of CAS's governing body, ICAS, are due to
hold a secret ballot in Monaco with Pound the most high-profile
of the four candidates bidding for the post.
A tax lawyer by profession, Pound, 66, made a name for himself when he headed up the International Olympic Committee (IOC) investigation into the Salt Lake City Olympic bidding scandal.
He gained further attention as the outspoken president of
the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), heading the organisation
from its inception in 1999 until the end of his second term of
office in November 2007.
While never shying away from confrontational statements
during his time at Wada, the Canadian may have to convince
Thursday's selectors that he would take a more conciliatory
approach to the running of CAS.
The court, which serves as the final court of appeal for
most of the major international sporting bodies including all
the Olympic sports federations, is heavily reliant on its
reputation for discretion and impartiality.
Renewed questions
In 1993, a Swiss federal court ruling went so far as to warn
the Lausanne-based court that it could only be recognised as an
impartial tribunal if it severed its ties with the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) under whose umbrella it originally
operated.
Subsequent reforms to the structure of CAS, including the
setting-up of ICAS, helped bring the court into line with that
ruling but Pound's former role with Wada and his continuing
membership of the IOC could lead to renewed questions over the
court's independence.
Pound is up against Swiss international lawyer Robert
Briner, former International Swimming Federation secretary
Gunnar Werner of Sweden and Italian lawyer Mino Auletta.
Auletta, a former legal advisor to the International
Athletics Federation, has presided over CAS since the death of
the court's original president Keba Mbaye in January 2007.
All four candidates are members of ICAS and the winner of
Thursday's election will become president of both bodies.
The role of the CAS president is largely honorary and if
elected Pound would exercise considerably less direct influence
than he did at Wada.
List of arbitrators
According to the court's governing code, the president is
not allowed to play an active role in any of the individual
cases heard by the court and is instead expected to concentrate
on its financing and general administration.
He does have a say in composing the list of CAS arbitrators,
currently numbering around 300, but only in consultation with
the other four members of the ICAS board.
Despite the limited powers attached to the position, the
possible appointment of Pound could nevertheless attract
opposition from some of the sporting bodies whom he has provoked
in the past.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) has been particularly
critical of Pound's manner, announcing last month that it was
suing the former Wada president.
The UCI said it was taking Pound to court for "continual
injurious and biased comments" against the world cycling's
governing body and its president Hein Verbruggen.
A final obstacle to Pound's candidacy could be his relative
youth - at least in terms of judges.
If Thursday's ballot ends in a tie between one or more of
the candidates, the presidency will go to the most senior.
Pound's three rivals, according to CAS, are all aged 77.