Formula 1: Proposed FIA changes ‘sadden’ motorsport boss
The FIA has so far declined to comment on the rationale behind the new regulations.
BBC Sport has asked for comment on Schmerroder’s allegations but has yet to receive a response.
Schmerode said Ben Sulayem and legal affairs chief Paul O’Dowd responded to his objections when they were raised on Tuesday.
He said: “The answer from the president and the legal chiefs is that in order to protect the (identities) of individuals who may be under investigation from being released to a wider audience, they need to be kept within a very close group.
“Their argument is that not sharing the Ethics Committee report with the full Senate protects these individuals from being exposed to the broader public, regardless of who might be the subject of the investigation.”
Schmeröder said he disagreed.
“If we can’t rely on the integrity of members of the Senate, then we have another problem,” he said.
“The Senate is made up of 16 people and they will see this report. We have to trust that they will deal with this issue in an appropriate way. I would rather have 16 people, the majority of whom are truly independent, rather than an intimate group of just Two people who are not independent of each other.”
Schmerroder added that a proposed new regulation that would require the other party to receive a report if the FIA president or Senate president is investigated is also concerning because the two men are allies.
Senate President Carmelo Sanz de Barros is a member of Ben Sulayem’s four-person leadership team.
“There is a strong connection between individuals, and if only two of them are in control, they are no longer independent,” Schmerode said.
He said he was also concerned about the new approach taken by the FIA leadership in submitting proposals.
“This time, as with the proposal in June this year, the World Council was only asked to vote electronically, no meeting was held, no discussion was held, and while the World Council was conducting electronic voting, the document was sent to all the General Assembly members,” he said.
Schmerroder did not attend the congress in person to “show our distance from current developments” and said the Austrian federation would hold a remote vote.
