NOC Secretary under radar after alleged ethic violations
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Maxwell de Silva
The night before the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) election, Suresh Subramanium, the voting representative from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka, wrote to Maxwell de Silva, NOC Secretary General, instructing him not to violate the IOC Code of Ethics. “If I am questioned, I will have to tell the truth,” he wrote.
This was after Subramanium, the incumbent president of the NOC Sri Lanka got complaints from several members that de Silva was violating ethics to garner votes for Kuwaiti Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the younger sibling of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who was suspended as IOC member after his 2021 conviction by a Swiss criminal court of forgery. He also subsequently stepped down as OCA president.
Contrary to IOC Ethics Commission recommendations to avoid any participation in the OCA’s activities–of which he was reminded multiple times and upon which he agreed, through his own decision, to suspend himself–Sheikh Ahmad has reportedly actively intervened in the OCA’s election campaign. This has been corroborated by various pieces of evidence, says a statement by the Ethics Commission. For instance, he travelled to Bangkok on July 6 to support his brother, Sheikh Talal, and had stayed until the end of the poll.
In parallel, invitations for immediate meetings were sent to various NOCs by some of Kuwait’s Embassies. The OCA presidential election took place on July 8 of 2023 and Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Ahmad Al Sabah was elected by 24 to 20 votes over Husain Al-Musallam, the official candidate of the Kuwait Olympic Committee (KOC).
Following this turn of events, the IOC asked the former interim President of the OCA, India’s Randhir Singh, to run the organisation while it reviewed the election results.
The IOC also issued a three-year ban to Sheikh Ahmad, for traveling to Bangkok for the election despite being warned against it. His presence in the city when the election took place was “interpreted as interference” by the IOC’s Ethics Commission.
Sheikh Ahmad has been self-suspended since 2018, when he was charged (and later convicted of) forgery by a Swiss court related to domestic political rivalries back home in Kuwait. His father founded the OCA in 1981. Sheikh Ahmad is a former OPEC Secretary General and Kuwait’s Minister of Defence.
De Silva is among others now reportedly in hot water for allegedly meeting Sheikh Ahmad just before the crucial vote on July 8. Subramanium confirmed that he was interviewed via email by the IOC Ethics Commission over the incident a few days after the poll.
“I was interviewed on email by the IOC Ethics Committee in relation to this and I responded with all what I know,” he said.
Subramaniam is a former Davis Cup tennis player who entered the Olympic movement in 2018 with strong support from de Silva. De Silva, who is at the centre of the controversy, however denied any wrongdoing, in a conversation with the Sunday Times while in Barbados for the Commonwealth Youth Games.
But he admitted that he had supported Sheikh Talal’s candidature while Subramanium had backed Husain Al-Musallam, the IOC’s preferred nominee. De Silva was reportedly captured on CCTV along with Kuwait’s Haider Farmanand at ‘a secret meeting’ with Sheikh Ahmad. There were also eyewitnesses to this discussion. The IOC’s Ethics Committee had instructed all its members to refrain from meeting Sheikh Ahmad during his stay in Bangkok.
“I totally deny meeting personally and or with Mr. Haider Farman of OCA in Bangkok with Sheikh Ahmad of Kuwait Deputy PM in secretly. These allegations are baseless and NOCSL has not informed any such by IOC,” de Silva explained.
Meanwhile Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe said he is closely monitoring the situation and will take appropriate action at the right time.
“It’s a very serious allegation,” he said.
“Once I get enough information, I will direct the Sports Investigation Unit (SIU) to investigate the matter.”