By IANS,
London: The BBC promised that it would help any International Olympic Committee (IOC) investigation over its allegations that amateur boxing’s global governing body had promised to deliver two gold medals to Azerbaijan at the 2012 London Olympics in return for millions of dollars.
The Guardian reported that IOC’s independent ethics committee will consider the evidence before deciding whether to launch a full investigation.
The BBC aired claims by two whistleblowers that World Series Boxing, an attempt by the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) to take on the professional circuit, accepted a $ 9million payment from the Azerbaijan government and guaranteed the medals in return.
AIBA has confirmed the payment, to finance four WSB franchises in the US, but maintained that in not from the the government but an individual investor. AIBA also denied that the payment was linked to any promise of medals.
AIBA has now promised to appoint a five-man panel to look into the allegations.
AIBA in a statement said that the world body and its subsidiary “deny in the strongest possible terms that they accepted an investment from Azerbaijan in exchange for two gold medals”, adding that it was “not aware of any credible evidence” to support the allegations.
The IOC ethics commission is already investigating the IOC members Issa Hayatou, Lamine Diack and João Havelange, also a former FIFA president, over corruption claims, which was revealed from a BBC Panorama documentary.