The The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ethics commission will not say whether it is investigating allegations that a member of the world athletics body’s top decisionmaking council and a candidate for vice president tried to bribe voters with Rolex watches.
Ethics commission secretary Tristan Jones said in an e-mail on Tuesday that he was bound by confidentiality rules and could not say if a complaint was made against United Arab Emirates federation president Ahmad al-Kamali.
“I am unable to confirm or deny whether any complaint has been made,” Jones wrote.
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Tuesday that al-Kamali was under investigation over allegations that he offered Rolex watches to 40 officials at the recent African Athletics Association congress in Ethiopia.
When reached by telephone, al-Kamali said: “I don’t want to talk anything about this, thank you,” before hanging up.
Al-Kamali is a candidate for IAAF vice president in elections in Beijing in August, when the IAAF will also elect a new president. Sebastian Coe and Sergei Bubka are the two candidates to succeed Lamine Diack as president.
The African officials who were offered the luxury watches are all eligible to vote in those elections at the IAAF congress ahead of the world championships, El Pais said.
IAAF rules forbid candidates offering gifts or donations.
The 56-year-old Al Kamali is one of 27 elected members of the IAAF’s ruling council. He is the founder and chairman of the Dubai Marathon and also a lawyer and former military judge, according to his biography page on the IAAF Web site.
Al-Kamali was elected to the IAAF council in 2011 as a relative unknown in world athletics, gaining the most votes out of the nine new members that year.
Quoting an unidentified president of an African federation, El Pais said al-Kamali offered the watches to delegates at the African congress in Addis Ababa this month, where he left the Rolexes in hotel rooms.
He also offered money and equipment to at least one official to help athletics development in his home country, El Pais said.
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