Beleaguered FIA president Max Mosley on Tuesday wrote to the World Council of motorsport's controlling body and said he would not resign from the organization. ( dpa )
A British tabloid reported Sunday that Mosley, son of British Union of Fascists founder Sir Oswald Mosley, engaged in sex acts with prostitutes that involved Nazi role-playing.
There have been repeated appeals to Mosley to resign in the wake of the scandal, with former Formula One world champion Jody Scheckter calling on the media to start a campaign to force Mosley to resign.
"There is no doubt that Mosley should resign. Somebody like that should not be allowed to head the sport," the South African, who won the championship in 1979 with Ferrari, told the Guardian newspaper.
German newspaper Die Welt said that Mosley had written a letter to the FIA World Council saying that he had no intention of resigning.
In a report made available ahead of publication on Wednesday, the newspaper, which has a copy of the letter, said that Mosley had not denied he was the person shown in the video.
Earlier, the News of the World reported that Mosley paid five prostitutes 2,500 pounds in cash and then engaged in an orgy that lasted almost five hours.
The 67-year-old is alleged to be seen on a video that shows him screaming orders in German and lashing girls wearing concentration camp uniforms.
The man on the video - allegedly Mosley - is also seen to be whipped by prostitutes before engaging in sexual acts. He then drinks a cup of tea with them.
In the letter to FIA, Mosley, whose father had Adolf Hitler as guest of honour at his wedding, which was held in the Berlin home of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, denied that there had been a Nazi connotation to the matter.
"This is entirely false," he wrote.
"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."
He said he would continue to lead FIA. "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.
"I am grateful and with your support I intend to follow this advice."
He did not say whether he would travel to Bahrain for this weekend's Grand Prix.
On Monday Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone called on Mosley to stay away.
Ecclestone, who has come out in support of his friend Mosley and said he did not see a reason why he should resign as FIA president, told the Times newspaper that Mosley should not come to Bahrain.
"He shouldn't go, should he? The problem is he would take all the ink away from the race and put it on something which, honestly and truly, is nobody else's business anyway," Ecclestone is quoted as saying.
Ecclestone said that the Bahrain royal family would also not appreciate Mosley's presence at the race. "They wouldn't like it," Ecclestone said.