Boxing HQ Guarded by Police

(ATR) A vote of no confidence against International Boxing Association president C.K. Wu is causing the already embattled federation to temporarily shut down.

Around the Rings is told that AIBA vice president Franco Falcinelli has sent communications to all AIBA staff at the headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland telling them to not come back to work until Monday, July 31.

Reports from Lausanne say security is blocking the entrance to AIBA offices within the Maison du Sport International, home to several International Federations.

The office shutdown began on Wednesday, July 26 following a contentious two-day AIBA Executive Committee meeting in Moscow where 12 members voted to remove Wu and form an Interim Management Committee. The IMC will be chaired by vice president Falcinelli who is joined by Terry Smith, Pat Fiacco, Aberto Puig De La Barca and Mohamed Moustahsane.

However, as Wu asserts to ATR, the IMC does not have the authority to oust the president and must call an Extraordinary Congress where AIBA’s 201 National Federations would also vote on a motion of no confidence against Wu.

This Congress is expected to take place in the next three months and as early as the World Championships in Hamburg, Germany next month. Until then, the IMC is tasked with overseeing the federation.

Despite a statement signed by 13 EC members approving its formation, Wu maintains that the creation of an IMC is not covered by the statutes of the federation.

"There can be no such committee under AIBA statutes. The rules must be followed," Wu tells ATR before leaving Moscow.

Wu says executive director William Louis-Marie remains in charge of the staff at the Lausanne headquarters. "This will be over soon," predicts Wu. He says lawyers are studying the situation and that more developments may come later in the week.

Wu apparently acknowledges the call for the extraordinary congress by the restive AIBA EC members despite refusing to sign the list of key decisions made by the EC. The congress provides Wu an opportunity to make an explanation regarding the financial situation of the federation which has come under fire following requests by an AIBA investor to immediately repay a loan of $10 million that’s reportedly four years overdue.

Despite this, Wu assures ATR that the federation is on the upswing.

"We are in healthy financial shape," he says. "We are debt free".

The $10 million loan from an Azerbaijan company from 2010?

"This is Ho Kim’s loan, he signed the papers," says Wu, trying to wash his hands of the deal. "The loan was not for AIBA, it was for the World Series of Boxing Americas. Ho Kim ran this business where $4 million to $5million disappeared," he says.

"Everything is linked to Ho Kim," declares Wu. "He wants to destroy boxing, the world championships, the AIBA Congress," he says. Wu also blames "a couple of EC members linked to Ho Kim who are not helping and trying to destroy the sport."

For his part, Kim says that Wu was fully informed of the loan from Azerbaijan as well as regular demands for repayment.

"We are clean and transparent," says Wu.

He says instead of financial disputes, attention should be paid to the work of AIBA developing sport, pointing to the "Year of Africa" sponsored by Alibaba to boost boxing on the continent.

"We have absolute support," says Wu.

Written by Kevin Nutley and Ed Hula.

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