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World Athletics announced on Thursday that it had discovered corporate theft of more than $1.7 million. Two employees and a contracted consultant are being accused of embezzling the funds from the international governing body over several years.
The organization, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation, reports that they have prepared detailed cases and turned the information over to authorities for criminal investigation. The theft was found when suspicious activity was noticed by its finance department while conducting its “first annual auditing process under a new financial leadership team.” Following the discovery of the theft, one employee and a consultant had their contracts terminated. The other employee had already left the organization.
World Athletics President issues statement
“Unfortunately, corporate theft happens in organizations around the world and across all industry sectors at different levels,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in a statement. “The most important thing is to identify it, review how it was able to happen and then introduce new processes and enhanced controls to ensure it doesn’t happen again. This is what we have done.
“We are also determined to recover whatever monies we are able using the full force of the law to do this. Too many organizations brush incidents like this under the carpet, terminating employment with limited information which allows perpetrators to continue their scams and thefts within new organizations. We are not that type of organization.
“We have built a strong reputation for good governance, transparency and for defending what is right, even if it is sometimes a little uncomfortable. This is uncomfortable but it is important that we do the right thing.”
Media report names two of the alleged suspects
According to a report by 3 Wire Sports, “Four sources with knowledge of the World Athletics review, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ex-chief operating officer Vineesh Kochhar and James Lord, former director of broadcast, are the focus of the inquiry.”
The outlet also reported that, as of Thursday, Kochhar’s LinkedIn profile still listed him as World Athletics chief operating officer, despite also showing a contradictory listing that his time with the governing body ended 10 months ago. Neither Kochhar, nor the unnamed consultant responded to messages. Lord initially responded to an email request for comment, asking what “specific statements or references” would be in the story, but failed to respond after he was provided with the answers.