Chung Mong-joon has told L'Equipe fellow FIFA presidential candidate Michel Platini should have done more to tackle corruption within global football's governing body.
Chung, 63, has declared he will stand against Platini, 60, in the election to succeed Sepp Blatter at the head of FIFA in February.
The South Korean claimed the UEFA president missed an opportunity to deal with the climate of corruption within FIFA when Platini worked closely with Blatter, 79, in the late '90s.
"It's very fashionable to be Blatter's enemy. In 1998, when Sepp Blatter inherited the culture of corruption from Joao Havelange, whose protege he was, Michel Platini campaigned for him and was his advisor. He said that he wasn't aware of proof of corruption. I believe him. But that's not a sufficient argument. He should have known, and he should have tried to do something. I failed, but at least I tried."
Chung added he had met Platini at this month's Super Cup in Georgia, saying: "I told him that it would be better for him not to be a candidate, because he had supported Blatter in 1998 and that Blatter had then supported him during the UEFA presidential election in 2007."
A former FIFA vice president and president of the South Korea FA, Chung claimed he had attempted to "bring transparency" to FIFA by, among other things, asking Blatter to make public his salary back in the mid-'90s.
He added that he had announced his candidacy in Paris, where FIFA was founded in 1904, as a nod to his ambition to "get back to its original spirit."
"FIFA is a non-governmental organisation," Chung, who was a FIFA vice president for 17 years, said. "At the start, it wasn't rich at all. It's financial success must not be it's main objective, and it's officials must stay humble, open, respected, loved and worthy of trust. But do you think FIFA is loved? No. It's the financial success of FIFA and the fact everyone clearly doesn't have the same sense of ethics that has caused the problem of corruption within it. It's sad."
#INSERT type:image caption:Chung Mong-joon said FIFA misrepresented charitable donations to Pakistan and Haiti. END#
Chung also accused football's governing body of trying to "misrepresent" charitable donations he made to relief donations to Pakistan and Haiti.
The South Korean lawmaker on Wednesday hit back at reports that his gifts in 2010 totaling $900,000 could be under scrutiny by investigators working for FIFA.
"If these reports are true, we condemn this as a cynical and unethical effort by FIFA to misrepresent even charitable donations for political manipulation," Chung said in a statement issued by his charitable foundation.
All FIFA contenders must pass an integrity check by the ethics committee to be accepted as candidates in the Feb. 26 election.
FIFA's ethics committee does not officially confirm ongoing cases and a request for comment was not immediately answered on Wednesday.
UEFA confirmed on Sunday that it asked FIFA to investigate if a document sent to German language media trying to discredit Platini came from FIFA headquarters.
Chung was FIFA's vice president for Asia five years ago when he pledged $400,000 for football projects in Pakistan after floods there. The Asian Football Confederation also gave $250,000 to be overseen by the Pakistan Football Federation.
However, the Asian body wrote to the PFF that it sent FIFA ethics investigators details about unspent donations, according to a letter dated June 17 seen by The Associated Press.
The donations "have not been used for [their] original purpose, i.e. for the construction of a football center in the district of Jhang," Windsor John, then the AFC's interim general secretary, wrote.
The Pakistani football body, which has endured bitter in-fighting during recent elections, has told the AFC the project stalled because land is not yet available.
Chung also gave $500,000 for football projects after an earthquake in Haiti, with the money controlled by now-disgraced FIFA vice president Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago.
FIFA previously said in 2012 it would ask Warner to explain how Chung's money and its own $250,000 donation to Haiti was spent.
Chung lost his FIFA vice presidency to Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in January 2011.
His foundation said on Wednesday that his gift-giving was not only connected to football.
"In addition to providing disaster relief assistance to Haiti and Pakistan, Dr. Chung has made numerous personal charitable donations, starting with the 1999 Turkey earthquake relief, Bangladesh disaster relief, China earthquake relief and Myanmar cyclone relief funds," the statement said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.