Scandal threatens FINA on eve of world champs

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Swimming's governing body FINA has been drawn into a commission scandal days before both their presidential elections and the start of the swimming events at the world championships.

Kuwait's Husain Al Musallam, who is standing unopposed as FINA's first vice president, has been caught up in a controversy for appearing to demand a 10% cut of potential sponsorship deals in a tape recording obtained by The Times and Germany's Spiegel Online.

Director of ANOC Presidents Office Husain Al Musallam (R) with ANOC Executive Council Member Andrey Kryukov during the International Relations Commission meeting ahead of the 69th ANOC Executive Council Meeting at ANOC headquarters on April 3, 2016 in Lausanne, Switzerland. /VCG Photo

In his role as general director of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the 57-year-old man is heard asking a business partner for 'commissions' on deals worth "40 to 50 million" US dollars.

The exchange is said to be between a prospective Chinese marketing agent and Musallam, who suggested that 10% of any sponsorship deals arranged for the OCA should be separately channeled to him.

FINA have yet to comment on the scandal that comes ahead of their elections in Budapest on Saturday and Sunday's start of swimming action at the world championships in the Hungarian capital.

China competes during the Synchronized Swimming Team Technical Final on day five of the Budapest 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on July 18, 2017. /VCG Photo

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) told The Times and Der Spiegel that the allegations have been passed to its chief ethics investigator.

It is not the first time this year that Musallam has courted controversy.

In April, The Times revealed, he was effectively identified in a US Department of Justice indictment as a co-conspirator who allegedly paid bribes to a football official.

File p‍hoto: Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah speaks during a press conference at the main press centre for 17th 2014 Asian Games in Incheon on September 21, 2014. /VCG Photo

Musallam is the right-hand man of Olympic powerbroker and OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, who in April resigned from his FIFA after being identified as a co-conspirator, along with Musallam, in the US indictment.

The recording obtained by The Times has emerged from the FBI investigation into Musallam and Sheikh Ahmad.

(Source: AFP)