LONDON – The International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) has denied “in the strongest possible terms” allegations of accepting a bribe in return for 2012 Olympic gold medals, claiming there was not “any credible evidence” to support the allegations.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was involved in discussions with the BBC yesterday over allegations on the NewsnightTV show that large sums of money were paid in an attempt to ensure boxers from Azerbaijan received gold medals at the London Games.
The AIBA has established a special investigation committee after the claims were made on last night’s programme, which tracked payments of millions of dollars from an Azeri national to the AIBA’s World Series of Boxing (WSB) competition.
The money was allegedly in return for guaranteed Azeri gold medals at the London Games, claims strongly denied by the AIBA, which insisted the transaction was an above-board loan “which originated from an Azerbaijani private investor”.
A statement last night said: “AIBA and WSB deny in the strongest possible terms that they accepted an investment from Azerbaijan in exchange for two gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics – or indeed for any improper purpose.
"The president of AIBA, Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, has announced the establishment of the AIBA special investigation committee to investigate allegations made on BBC's Newsnight.
“While this exemplifies AIBA’s zero tolerance attitude to corruption and absolute commitment to ensuring transparency in the sport of boxing, at this stage AIBA is not aware of any credible evidence to suggest that the allegation that WSB’s chief operating officer, Mr Ivan Khodabakhsh, promised the award of two gold medals in return for payment is true.
“Ivan Khodabakhsh is a man of integrity and AIBA trusts him and respects his work.
“Mr Khodabakhsh has confirmed to AIBA that he will co-operate fully and freely with the AIBA special investigation committee.”
The statement said the investigation committee would begin by asking the BBC to send it “all the material on which they relied for the purposes of their programme”, and they noted IOC president, Jacques Rogge, had also called for this to happen.
Mr Khodabakhsh himself said: “The allegations that have been made against WSB and me are all completely groundless and false. I have never been asked to nor have I ever undertaken anything illegal or unethical in the course of my duties working for WSB.” – (PA)