Additional scandal has been brought to light surrounding Kuwait’s Husain Al Musallam just days ahead of his bid for re-election as First Vice President of FINA. Already under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in his additional role of Director General for the Olympic Council of Asia for alleged participation in a FIFA bribery ring, the high-ranking FINA official is now involved in an alleged caught-on-tape commission scandal.
In a tape recording obtained by The Times, Al Musallam appears to demand of a prospective Chinese marketing agent a 10% cut of sponsorship deals. Monetarily, the deals could translate to $40-50 million, prompting the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to pass the allegations on to its chief ethics investigator.
However, in the meantime, FINA has cleared Al Musallam to be re-elected unopposed as First Vice President.
“There was no case to answer based on the information that is available to FINA at this time,” the world governing body for swimming said in a statement today.
“Moreover there was no breach of any FINA regulations.” The elections are slated to be held on Saturday, July 22nd. (The Strait Times)
The Kuwait Swimming Association (KSA) has previously petitioned the Asian Swimming Association and FINA for Al Musallam’s removal from the Bureau, noting he is a delegate from Kuwait, a federation that is suspended by the IOC and FINA. Just today, FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu confirmed FINA has rejected the complaint, with the FINA Bureau having “decided by majority vote to entirely reject the content of the said complaint.”
Marculescu also denounced the KSA, calling it a “group of persons or persons who are neither qualified nor recognized as having any authority to commit our suspended member.”
Update – FINA’s statement on the situation is as follows: “These allegations are a matter for OCA to comment on although FINA will monitor developments carefully. However, it was determined there was no case to answer based on the information that is available to FINA at this time. Moreover, there was no breach of any FINA regulations.”
Flush this toilet. It’s frankly disgusting that this level of corruption is not only ignored but endorsed by our governing body. Enough is enough.
Sound like Al Musallam has dirt on others in FINA
Oh come on, how come this is big deal?? Is anyone actually surprised with it???
Surprised? No. Is it a big deal? Yes. We definitely shouldn’t accept this from someone running to be FINA VP.