Lausanne, Switzerland – January 31st, 2018:AIBA’snewly named Interim President and Executive Vice President have announced that an out-of-court settlement has been reached toenda legal fight over a critical$10 million loanbyone of the biggest creditors to WSB Americas Operation that had been guaranteed by the International Boxing Association (AIBA).
"The settlement that AIBA has reached withBenkons represents a significant step toward restoringthefinancial confidence and proper governance at AIBA because if the matter had been left open we could have faced bankruptcy," saidGafurRahimov, AIBA’s Interim President, and Franco Falcinelli, the Executive Vice President, in a joint statement.
The agreement calls for the reimbursement of part of the funds, beginning in 2021, whileanother portion of the amount will be converted into sponsorship.
"This will effectivelyreduce anddelay AIBA’soverallcash payments at a time when we are cash-strapped," saidRahimov,who led the effortto achieve the agreement well before he was named as the Interim President. "And it will put an end to the single biggest challenge that AIBA has been facing."
Benkons, the company that extended the loan seven years ago, confirmed the settlementon Wednesday and said,"We had already initiated legal action against AIBA, butwe agreed tothe AIBA proposal as it is favourable for bothparties."
The boxing federation has been plagued by financial mismanagement and a lack of transparency, which led to the resignation in November of AIBA President CK Wu.Accounting irregularitiesat AIBAalso raised concerns with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which in December asked AIBA to submit a plan to address its governance and financial issues by January 31st.
"Clearly we are pleased to announce that this settlement has been reached," said Falcinelli. "This news, of course,isincluded in ouroverallreport to the IOC, whichalsoprovides a detailed update about the six issues they asked us to address: governance, management, financial, judging, refereeing and anti-doping."
Rahimovwasnamed Interim President at the AIBA Extraordinary Congress in Dubai on January 27th."Our message to the IOC and to the world of boxing is that AIBA is turning over a new leaf andwe intend todemonstrate ourresponsibility toall National Federationsandourcommitment to the sport wealllove," he said.
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