IOC is "Extremely Worried" Over New AIBA Prez's Criminal Ties

The IOC says it is "extremely worried" about the governance of Olympic boxing body AIBA, whose new interim president has been linked to organized crime by United States federal authorities.

The International Olympic Committee's executive board will "decide on further measures" at a meeting next weekend in South Korea which was already due to discuss AIBA's issues, including an ongoing funding freeze.

On Saturday, AIBA named its longest-serving vice president, Gafur Rakhimov of Uzbekistan, as leader until November elections in Moscow.

Rakhimov was described by the U.S. Treasury Department last month as "an important person involved in the heroin trade" connected to the "Thieves-in-Law" crime group.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control froze Rakhimov's assets in American jurisdiction and prohibited Americans "conducting financial or other transactions" with him.

As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, AIBA was "obligated to follow the statutes'' requiring the senior vice president to fill any vacancy, executive committee member Pat Fiacco said from Dubai where national boxing federations were holding a special congress.

"There is nothing negative that the executive committee can say,'' Fiacco said, adding that Rakhimov has "contributed positively'' to AIBA.

Rakhimov was linked last month to the Thieves-in-Law organised crime group by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which said the group "originated in Stalinist prison camps''.

"The Thieves-in-Law has grown into a vast criminal organisation which has spread throughout the former Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States, engaging in a variety of crimes, such as money laundering, extortion, bribery, and robbery,'' the federal office said.

Rakhimov allegedly has supported the criminal group by "providing warning of law enforcement issues, arranging meetings, and addressing other problems''.

A federal document said Rakhimov is resident in Dubai, where AIBA members met on Saturday. The meeting was called to deal with fallout and financial problems from the previous presidency of CK Wu, a Taiwanese member of the International Olympic Committee who left office last year.