Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has been banned from holding any position within the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for 15 years for ethics violations. The 61-year-old Kuwaiti also served as president of the Olympic Council of Asia.
IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper informed all IOC members of the decision to sanction Sheikh Ahmad over a court case in Switzerland.
#Kuwait's "Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has been banned for 15 years from all positions within the #InternationalOlympicCommittee over ethics breaches, the Olympic ruling body has decided."
— Gordon Gray (@AmbGordonGray) May 5, 2024
https://t.co/hTngXVUS4j
“The IOC Executive Board has decided to confirm the seriousness of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah’s breaches of ethical principles, including a betrayal of his IOC member oath, as well as the seriousness of the damage to the IOC’s reputation, which has jeopardized its interests,” De Kepper wrote in a letter to Reuters on May 3, 2024.
“And consequently, to sanction Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah by suspending all the rights, privileges and functions deriving from his IOC membership for a period of 15 years starting from the date of the previous sanction decision by the IOC Executive Board on 27 July 2023.”
He will be age 74 when the suspension is over.
“Consequently, the IOC Ethics Commission is of the opinion that the specific conduct of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah in orchestrating a sham arbitration solely for his own benefit constitutes highly unethical behaviour by an IOC member,” the IOC Ethics Commission said in its decision.
The former OPEC secretary-general, Sheikh Ahmad had been found guilty in 2021 in Switzerland of forgery and a fake arbitration procedure. The decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals of Geneva.
