Rogge Welcomes AIBA Investigation

IOC President Jacque Rogge has welcomed an investigation by AIBA, amateur boxing’s governing body into allegations that millions of dollars have been paid to guarantee Azerbaijan two gold medals in the ring at next year’s London Olympics.

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

The International Amateur Boxing Association has launched an investigation after the claims were made on BBC TV’s  Newsnight programme, which found payments of millions of dollars from Azerbaijan to the AIBA’s World Series of Boxing competition. The money was allegedly in return for guaranteed gold medals at the Games.

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

“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.”