(ATR) An investigation into the mismanagement of funds meant for athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympics has produced another arrest.
Ben Ekumbo, vice-president of the Kenyan Olympic Committee, was arrested at his home in Nairobi yesterday according to local media reports. Ekumbo is also president of the Kenyan Swimming Federation. Local reports say Ekumbo was found hiding under his bed when police came to arrest him.
Police arrested Ekumbo on charges stemming from stealing apparel from the Kenyan Olympic team. After his arrest, police reportedly seized multiple boxes from his apartment containing uniforms produced by Nike.
Ekumbo is the fifth Kenyan official arrested for embezzling funds or apparel used for the team’s Rio delegation.
Legal problems for the NOC-K began when officials began travelling to Rio to compete in the Games. In September, chef de mission Stephen Arap Soi was arrested for reportedly stealing $256,000 earmarked for accommodations for athletes and officials. The money came from the National Olympic Committee, Athletics Kenya, and the sports ministry. Soi reportedly traveled to Brazil with the money and did not declare it to customs.
Two other officials, NOC-K vice president Pius Ochieng and secretary general Francis Kinyili Paul, were charged with stealing team apparel from Nike. All three officials remain out on bail, and Paul was part of the official Kenyan delegation to the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly last week in Doha. No athletes have been found connected to the scheme.
During Rio 2016, Kenyan athletics manager Major Rotich was suspended for "boasting the ability to skirt anti-doping protocols." After the Olympics, the Kenyan government disbanded the NOC for "mismanagement" during the 2016 Games.
Kenyan Olympic officials say they have contacted the IOC for help in curbing the sport governance issues the country faces. The IOC told Around the Rings in Augustthey are monitoring the situation but the NOC could face a suspension for autonomy issues.
Written by Aaron Bauer
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
