November 14, 2006	Tuesday	Shawwal 21, 1427

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KARACHI, Nov 13: Former International Boxing Association (AIBA) chief, Anwar Chowdhry, on Monday accused AIBA’s top officials of taking huge bribes to switch loyalties at the recent elections but failed to substantiate his claims with any evidence whatsoever.

Addressing a press conference after his recent defeat at the world boxing body AIBA’s polls — which saw him being ousted as its president after 20 years — Chowdhry claimed it was a “game of money” in Santo Domingo where the AIBA Congress and polls were held.

“AIBA Congress was a game of money and a disgrace to the sport. Some of the people who have been elected to the highest posts are the ones who do not have any boxing background,” the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) chairman told newsmen. “My opponents paid unlimited money in bribe to the delegates, especially on the deciding day. They bought over 30 votes, 20 from Africa and 10 from Central America. The figure is supposed to be over three million dollars.”

Chowdhry claimed that when a delegate from Mali died in an accident, 12,000 euro were found from his luggage. The boxing official, however, could not come up with a convincing reply when asked how he could be sure the money was paid as bribe.

According to Chowdhry, it was his close friend Kamel Shbib from Syria who betrayed him at the polls. But while he repeatedly said that because of Shbib’s betrayal he lost by two votes, it perhaps slipped Chowdhry’s mind that he had actually lost to Taiwan’s Ching-Kuo Wu by four votes. “He (Shbib) may have received a very big amount of money besides promises of some important position — probably as chairman of Referee/Judge Commission,” said Chowdhry while accusing the Syrian without providing any concrete evidence.

Chowdhry said Shbib might replace Dr Osman of Egypt in AIBA as chairman of commission although “he (Shbib) did not have the required knowledge for the job. The former AIBA chief stated that the Syrian had no standing in international boxing and it was only due to his efforts that Shbib made some standing at the AIBA.”

“Eight years ago, Shbib was nobody in international boxing. I promoted him by assigning him almost every competition during last six to seven years.”

It is interesting to note that if Shbib is not better than Dr Osman why did Chowdhry assign the Syrian for every tournament during last seven years.

Likewise, without directly accusing Wu of bribing the delegates, Chowdhry claimed that the Taiwanese threw lavish parties to oblige the voters. He even accused the Taiwan government of supporting Wu financially to win the election.

But when Chowdhry’s was asked to substantiate his claims, he surprised everyone by choosing not to reply. It was at this stage that his son-in-law Shakeel Durrani came to rescue. “We are not having a court proceeding here. If thousands of euros were found from a delegate from Mali, it is enough to proof that delegates took bribes,” Shakeel, the PBF secretary said.

Chowdhry was then asked if he ever resorted to bribing officials in AIBA himself since he managed to be an integral part of the association for almost 40 years. “I have never used money to buy votes in my career,” came the curt reply from the seasoned official.