AIBA Launch investigation over Gold fixing allegations

The AIBA has launched an investigation after allegations Azerbaijan had paid substantial amounts of money to ensure they received gold medals at the 2012 Olympics.

The claims, made on BBC’s flagship Newsnight programme, revealed an investigation uncovering payments of millions of dollars from an Azeri national to the International Amateur Boxing Association’s World Series of Boxing competition.

The money was allegedly in return for guaranteed Azeri gold medals at next years Games.

The BBC programme quoted AIBA president Dr Ching Kuo as saying: “Thanks for informing us about this information. I will immediately conduct an investigation into this because there is a zero tolerance policy in AIBA.”

The allegations, from an unnamed insider, relate to the financial affairs of the World Series of Boxing, a full-time, salaried tournament inaugurated by AIBA last year – ostensibly to make it more attractive to fighters to stay in the amateur ranks.

The International Olympics Committee has urged the BBC to hand over any further evidence it may have regarding allegations.

An IOC statement this morning said: “We welcome AIBA’s announcement of an immediate enquiry into these claims and we await the outcome of their investigation.

“For its part the IOC takes all allegations of corruption very seriously. And we would urge the BBC to make any evidence they have available to AIBA and to our Ethics Commission which will then determine if further action is necessary.

“We would also note that the judging process in boxing as in other sports at the Games are transparent and open to public scrutiny – and a number of sports including boxing have made significant changes to their procedures in recent years to deal with any potential issues.”