(ATR) Olympic boxing chief CK Wu's attempt to fight dirty against AIBA's Interim Management Committee has been whistled as a low blow.
In a decision rendered Aug. 10, prosecutor Ximena Paola Manriquez threw out the criminal complaints filed by Wu on Aug. 2. Included in the complaint were allegations of death threats by the IMC chair against Wu and AIBA executive director William Louis-Marie, a Wu stalwart..
"In brief, accusations are based only on an electronic email most probably sent by a hacker," the statement from Manriquez says. "And due to the internal problems existing now within AIBA, the Public Ministry does not enter into consideration."
Wu was notified of this decision on Aug. 10, yet in a letter four days later he incorrectly claimed that a criminal case was proceeding against the IMC. Wu apparently misled other media which reported the same erroneous details.
The Aug. 10 letter from Wu containing the untrue accusations was sent to the president of the Moroccan boxing federation with a copy sent to Nawal El Moutawakel, IOC member in Morocco. In the letter, Wu seeks their help silencing the Moroccan member of the IMC.
On Thursday, the battle between Wu and the IMC moved to a courtroom in Lausanne. The court is being asked to decide whether Wu or the IMC should be in control of the federation. The two hour hearing ended without a decision, the judge saying she needed more time to review the documents submitted.
In a public statement on the hearing, the IMC claimed the judge needs more time due to "the incredible
amount of irrelevant and false and misleading information provided by CK Wu and his
lawyers."
The IMC statement is also raising red flags about the rising legal costs Wu is generating for AIBA to pay.
"As 3 different law firms sent their lawyers to defend CK Wu, the question is now about who will pay for these costs. We learned that CK Wu approved a payment of 200,000 CHF forlegal costs in recent months, expenses made for protecting his position being continuously high. As a result, we are all at AIBA effectively paying for CK Wu’s personal legal bills. This needs to stop," says the IMC statement.
In the hearing, the IMC revealed that Wu had attempted to keep the dropped criminal proceedings a secret while continuing to disseminate false accusations to AIBA’s National Federations.
Following the hearing, AIBA released a statement saying the IMC had dropped their request to suspend Louis-Marie from his duties as executive director while the case is still pending. However, the IMC says this is not true and used the contradiction as an opportunity to set the record straight about the hearing.
"IMC did NOT withdraw its decision to suspend him and the position of the IMC towards William Louis- Marie has not changed at all," the IMC states. "CK Wu continuously refused the decisions of Executive Committee in Moscow. However, at the hearing, it was confirmed that the Extraordinary Congress would be held on November 12 in Dubai.
"It was also confirmed again that the Executive Director has not provided the finance auditor’s (KPMG) reports in the last 3 years to EC and NFs, which is a clear violation of both the AIBA Statutes and Swiss Law."
The confirmation of the failure to supply the finance report to National Federations is the crux of the dispute between Wu and the IMC, as AIBA faces bankruptcy due to an unpaid loan of $10 million to an Azerbaijani company which is seeking immediate repayment.
In addition, the IMC reports that it currently has 81 letters of support from National Federations. Wu was able to supply the court with just three letters of support.
The IMC is trying to wrest control from Wu over alleged mismanagement. The IMC has claimed that Wu treats AIBA as his own "personal kingdom".
A ruling by the court is not expected until September, after the 2017 World Championships in Hamburg beginning Aug. 25.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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