BBC report on Azerbaijan 'groundless'
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Shanghai Daily, December 14, 2011
Allegations that Azerbaijan paid bribes to secure boxing gold medals at the 2012 London Games are "groundless and unsupported by any credible evidence," the Olympic sport's governing body said.
A BBC television program reported in September that US$9 million had been paid by Azerbaijan in return for a guarantee of two boxing gold medals for the former Soviet republic at next year's Olympics.
AIBA, amateur boxing's governing body, appointed a five-man committee to investigate the claims by the BBC Newsnight program. The panel, headed by American Tom Virgets, chairman of AIBA's disciplinary commission, issued its findings on Monday and disputed all the accusations.
Citing unnamed "whistleblowers" and "insiders," the BBC alleged that bribes were paid by an Azerbaijan national to World Series of Boxing, an international franchise competition supported by AIBA. The program said the money was needed by the WSB because it had run into financial difficulties in the United States.
"We have conducted an exhaustive investigation over the past two months, and we have concluded that the allegations made by BBC Newsnight in September that there was an investment by a government or any discussion or effort to guarantee gold medals were completely without merit," Virgets said.
Virgets said the BBC "relied heavily on hearsay" to support its allegations.
He said the panel asked the BBC for evidence, but the company provided only the transcripts of the broadcast and "unsubstantiated statements by sources who made speculative claims but who refused to cooperate with the investigation."
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