After the article of the New York Times, concerning ethical questions regarding the contract between Gary Kasparov and Ignatius Leong, it came to our attention a statement by Morten Sand, the lawyer assisting Garry Kasparov's campaign, that a leaked contract between Gary Kasparov and Ignatius Leong was possible "through the administrator of the mail account in FIDE".

The above statement of Morten Sand is entirely false.

It is obvious that there is an attempt to drive the discussion away from the substance of this issue, i.e. whether such contracts are ethical or not. For the leaking of confidential documents, Garry Kasparov's team should perhaps look amongst themselves.

Nigel Freeman
FIDE Executive Director