20 December 2016

Sports Integrity Briefs – 20 December 2016

• Frankfurt prosecutors have confirmed to the DPA News agency that they have managed to crack an encrypted file named ‘Complex Jack Warner’ in connection to its investigations into allegations of corruption regarding Germany’s bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. The file was named in a 361-page report compiled by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as one of many files that had been protected with passwords that were ‘not possible for us to decipher within the time period set for the investigation’. The 12 November document was contained within a storage folder belonging to Stefan Hans, read the report. It is understood that the file was passed over to Frankfurt prosecutors last month, shortly before Swiss authorities searched homes in Switzerland in connection to the investigation. It centres on a €6.7 million payment, which prosecutors allege was falsely declared to be destined for a gala event in connection to the tournament’s opening ceremony.

• The Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) has confirmed that it was one of ten International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) members that decided not to support the Time for Change proposals presented to the IAAF Congress in November. ‘There was a list of fifteen different proposals contained in two constitutions which Congress was asked to “rubber stamp” (vote for without amendments)’, pointed out the JAAA in a statement which outlined five specific issues with the IAAF’s proposals. ‘This in itself was unprecedented. We know of no other time in the 104-year history of the IAAF that federations had to vote for a series of proposals as a unit. We would have preferred for the items to be separated, discussed and voted on individually.’ IAAF President Sebastian Coe revealed on Twitter that the IAAF is recruiting four positions for its new Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which will launch on 3 April 2017. A media statement on the operations of the AIU is available here.

• The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has confirmed that Abdul Kareem has reported an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for stanozolol. The Iraqi athlete has been provisionally suspended.

• The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has outlined the composition of its six expert groups for 2017. There are expert groups for the following areas: Ethics; Gene and Cell Doping; Laboratories; Prohibited List; Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs); and Technical Document for Sport Specific analysis (TDSSA). Of the 52 members, two are from Asia and two are from Africa – one of which is listed as being jointly from Ghana and the UK and one of which is from South Africa. The six Chairs of the expert groups are from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, and USA.

Brock Lesnar has been sanctioned by the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) with a one-year ban and has been fined US$250,000 after testing positive for a prohibited substance, reports The Guardian. In July, the UFC confirmed that Lesnar had tested positive for a prohibited substance following an out-of-competition sample given on 28 June, however it has yet to issue a formal statement announcing the sanction.

Alexander Povetkin has returned an adverse analytical (AAF) finding for Ostarine, World Boxing Council (WBC) President Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed on Twitter. Sulaiman said that the notification of Povetkin’s AAF came just 20 hours before the German boxer was due to fight Bermane Stiverne for the WBC interim heavyweight title on Saturday 17 December. In August, the WBC ruled that Povetkin could return to the ring, as the levels of meldonium in a previous sample were so low that the WBC could not be sure that the substance was ingested after it became prohibited on 1 January 2016.

• The President of the Mexican athletics federation (FMAA), Antonio Lozano Pineda, has been arrested on allegations of embezzlement. While confirming the arrest, a statement from the FMAA did not provide details. The Attorney General’s Office told Associated Press that Pineda had been arrested following a complaint of the National Sports Commission, and is accused of embezzling 4.8 million pesos ($250,000).

• The Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee has banned Rafael Callejas and Alfredo Hawit Banegas for life. The two Honduran officials were named in a 3 December 2015 US Department of Justice (DoJ) indictment, and both pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering and wire fraud in the US earlier this year regarding schemes to receive bribes in return for the awarding of football media rights. In a statement, FIFA said that both had been found guilty of violating the FIFA Code of Ethics.

• The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Compliance Review Committee (CRC), Chaired by Jonathan Taylor of Bird & Bird, met on 14 December to discuss current issues. The CRC, which provides ‘independent advice, guidance and recommendations to WADA’s Management and Foundation Board on matters relating to Code compliance’ discussed: The key highlights set out in the McLaren Investigation Report Part II; The upcoming compliance questionnaire for Code Signatories; Finalisation of the compliance audit program that is coming on stream in 2017; Enforcement of the requirement to file Doping Control Forms and Therapeutic-Use Exemptions (TUEs) in the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS); Updates on the status of Signatories currently deemed non-compliant and Signatories being monitored for compliance; and The consequences of non-compliance.

• The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has reduced a ban on the registration of new players imposed on Real Madrid by FIFA, which found that it had breached its rules regarding the transfer of minors. In a statement, the CAS said that some of the rule violations alleged by FIFA could be upheld, but not all of them. The full award will be notified to the parties concerned in early 2017.

• The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) has selected Königssee in Germany to replace Sochi as host of the 2017 IBSF World Championships, 13-26 February. The IBSF decided to move the event on 13 December, as it ‘felt that during this difficult time it is prudent not to organize such an event in Russia’.

• The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) has issued a four-year ban to a University football player. ‘Tristan Grosman, a U Sports football player from St. Francis Xavier University, received a sanction of four years for an anti-doping rule violation, read a CCES statement. ‘The athlete’s urine sample, collected during out-of-competition doping control on April 24, 2016, revealed the presence of dehydrochlormethyltestosterone’.

• The Iran National Anti-Doping Organisation (IRANADO) reports that it has recorded 32 positive doping tests in 2016.

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