The Verification Commission met in Lausanne on Saturday, April 29. Also present were FIDE Executive Director Emmanuel Omuku and Treasurer David Jarrett. Unfortunately, the state of FIDE's affairs have deteriorated during the last year. Lawsuits by former World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar, increasing debt, member dissatisfaction with event management and a decline in the quality, timeliness and extent of FIDE services is alarming. On the plus side FIDE staff remains dedicated and willing to make sacrifices during difficult times.
Individual volunteers continue to lend both financial and technical support.
A new venture FIDE Commerce is potentially lucrative and far reaching. Following the Verification Commission meeting, Mr. Berek Balgabaev has reported to me that President Ilyumzhinov has transferred SF400,000 into the FIDE account thus reducing the money, shown below as owed to FIDE, by that amount. Last year, there was a large overdue loan from FIDE to the World Chess Foundation for SF402,372. This loan ballooned to SF1,365,659 by year end 1999. FIDE has now become completely dependent upon the financial support of President Ilyumzhinov.