Olympic boxing hit by corruption charges
It has recently been announced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that Olympic boxing officials are going to investigate allegations that have been brought up against Azerbaijan. These allegations hold that Azerbaijan made payments of up to $9
million in return for gold medals in the event.
The governing body has taken up the matter seriously because it involves its subsidiary which is being accused of accepting the money to give out gold medals.
More specifically, the head of the World Series Boxing, the International Amateur Boxing Association, is being named as the guilty party for having accepted the amount in return for giving out two gold medals. AIBA has confessed to a payment made by an Azeri
citizen for the purpose of investment in American franchises. However, the lawyers for AIBA have vehemently denied any charges that hold AIBA guilty of accepting money for giving out gold medals.
The president of AIBA, Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu, made the following statements to Newsnight regarding the issue: "I want you to know ... How much effort I put in to clean the house. Four vice-presidents, a secretary general, six [members of the] executive committee,
all expelled because of wrongdoing. Any corruption or manipulation is totally unacceptable. We have been cleaning the house for the last four years. I can guarantee you Aiba, like the other international federations, is fighting corruption. If something happened,
we will definitely investigate. If this is a true story we will immediately fire Ivan. There is no way we can accept it."
Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, has appreciated the step taken by AIBA to initiate the investigation into the matter and has asked that the BBC provide proof about the serious allegations it has raised against AIBA. Rogge
also added that the ethics commission will examine all the evidence and take the necessary decision regarding the matter.
Other than that, the AIBA and WSB also issued a statement saying that the allegations have been made by individuals who hold a grudge against two organizations.
This is not the first time that Olympic boxing has been come into the limelight for corruption charges. The case of the boxer Roy Jones was another controversy that erupted in 1988. Observers will need to wait for the investigation to conclude before a final
conclusion can be reached.
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