Groundhog Day: the next corruption allegations against the president of World Aquatics
He calls himself Captain Aqua. Husain Al-Musallam has been linked to a series of dubious dealings. The Kuwaiti was exposed as a bribe payer in FIFA criminal proceedings as the sidekick of the convicted Olympic Sheikh Al-Sabah – and is now once again accused of shady deals.
Smoke from the blown-out candles on the first-birthday cake of the Aquatics Integrity Unit (AQIU) still hanging in the air, the global regulator is facing a rising tide of integrity challenges.
January cast serious doubts on reform commitments at World and European Aquatics after both federations failed to ask António Silva to step aside from his roles as global vice-president to Husain Al-Musallam and continental president pending investigation into integrity matters that prompted the Portuguese government to order Silva's dismissal as head of his nation's swimming federation after a five-month inquiry found in favour of a whistleblower.
February has not got off to a better start. in the first week alone, Al-Musallam has been:
- the subject of a complaint that led Kuwait Olympic Committee (KOC) investigators to alert the head of NOC to an alleged association with a company trading in the Olympic realm
- referred to the ethics commission of the KOC
- been cited in a letter to a State Minister in which a public prosecution and anti-corruption authority investigation is suggested
- forced to deny the allegations, which he tells THE INQUISITOR flows from political intrigue in Kuwait
- apparently been cleared by the ethics commission the day before its organisation's president informed the Kuwaiti government that Al-Musallam had been referred to the committee for investigation
- facing question. about whether he solicited and received state funds in this OCA election campaign against Sheikh Talal Al-Sabah
- been alerted to allegations that millions in Kuwaiti public funds allocated to Asia Aquatics have gone missing.
Let's start with what may be the simplest of the cases in play, the search for several million dollars.
Questions over "missing $7m" of Kuwaiti funds at Asian Aquatics
Al-Musallam is currently presiding over the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, where a meeting of Asia Aquatics will take place on Monday on the periphery of the global showcase. One item will rule them all: accusations that $7 million of Kuwaiti public funds intended for the continental association have "gone missing", largely between 2009-2016 but also much more recently.
In a letter dated January 25, 2024, and sent to Sheikh Khalid Badr Mohammed Al-Sabah, president of Asia Aquatics (formerly known as AASF), the organisation’s secretary general, Kuwait-born president of the Oman swimming federation Taha Sulaiman Al-Kishry, notes his surprise at discovering that $1m had been allocated to the AASF by the Public Authority for Sport in Kuwait "but AASF has not received any part of it".
Just why public funds from any single nation would be allocated to support a continental sports federation in swimming in an Olympic realm with a Charter that insists on the separation of politics and sport, is a mystery at this stage but delegates from Asia will meet on Monday in Doha, in the presence of Husain Al-Musallam.
"Clarity on this matter is of prime importance for maintaining the integrity and well-being of our esteemed federation," writes Al-Kishry.
One of those who contacted us to share concerns about a lack of integrity and transparency, concluded:
"The sport is definitely under attack."
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The Captain In Stormy Seas
Hot on the heels of the thunderous fall from grace of former Olympic kingmaker Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah, the machinations of Olympic and Kuwaiti politics continue to spill, with news that Husain Al-Musallam was referred to the ethics commission of the KOC in a letter that landed on the desk of a government minister this week with a stark suggestion:
"To ensure safety of public funds, Your Excellency may refer this matter to the Public Prosecution and Anti-Corruption authority (Nazaha, the Arabic word for Integrity) in the best exigencies of public interest."
His Excellency is Dawood Sulaiman Abdul Rasul Marafi, Minister of State for National Assembly, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Minister of State for Communications Affairs for Kuwait. And the note to him came in a letter from Sheikh Fahad Nasser Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the KOC president, who has been anything but a bored chairman of late.
He was acting on information from the KOC’s investigation committee on January 29 about "offences relating to the works of Public Authority for Sport." In his letter to the minister, the head of the KOC notes that …
"… there are contractual associations between Dynamic General Trading, Import and Export and Kuwait Olympic Committee regarding the 3rd Gulf Sports Games held in the State of Kuwait (May 2022) and that this company is owned by of a first degree relative of a board member of Kuwait Olympic Committee and the General Director of the Games."
Sheikh Fahad adds in his February 5 note to the minister:
"Based on our keenness to preserve public interest and in application of transparency, we would like to inform you that the Board of Directors of Kuwait Olympic Committee unanimously agreed at its session No. 1/2024 dated 1/2/2024 to refer Mr. Husain Al Musallam, General Secretary of Kuwait Olympic Committee, to the Ethics Commission for necessary action to be taken pursuant to the rules and regulations pursued in this respect."
As attentive readers know, Husain Al-Musallam is a man of many hats. Let us briefly recap his most important positions in sport, all of which he juggles as a jack-of-all-trades:
- In addition to the presidency of World Aquatics,
- he has been Director General & Technical Director of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)
- and Secretary General of the KOC.
- An IOC membership is on the cards.
When THE INQUISITOR put the latest allegations to Al-Musallam, he said that it was all a matter of rancorous inner-Kuwaiti conflicts, "politically motivated allegations" and power games and the work of people who wanted to do him harm. Everything was already well under way and would be clarified.
Read Al-Musallam's full statement:
Craig Lord
On the ethics referral, he issued a statement and attached a letter from deputy chairman of ethics committee Shahin Al-Shahin, unsigned, dated February 4 and addressed to KOC president Sheikh Fahad.
That date sets alarm bells ringing.
The head of the KOC sent his letter to the Minister the day after the ethics commission of the organisation he is the president of cleared the swimming boss?
How could that happen?
A case of the left foot not knowing what the right is doing? A case of foot soldiers proceeding without informing the boss?
Perhaps, Sheikh Fahad simply didn't expect the ethics commission to be able to complete a thorough investigation in a day or two.
Whatever the answer, it is reasonable to ask how it is possible to be told on a Friday to get to work on complex matters and then be ready on a Sunday without, apparently, the boss being made aware?
It remains to be seen whether Sheikh Fahad knew of that February 4 letter when he sent his own letter to the Minister the day after but Al-Shahin’s letter notes Al-Musallam’s clearance, points to matters the "committee" has no jurisdiction over and cannot judge yet seals the case by declaring:
"This resolution is final and may not be challenged by any form of appeal."
Final and may not be challenged – what a convenient and express decision it would be if that February 4 letter results in confirmation from Sheikh Fahad in another letter to the Minister explaining "sorry, my mistake ... all good."
Husain Al-Musallam lost the election for president of the Olympic Council of Asia to Sheikh Talal, the brother of Sheikh Ahmad. However, this election was not recognised by the IOC – and Ahmad, who had already been suspended himself, was suspended as an IOC member for three years for allegedly influencing the election.
Could it get any more absurd?
Yes.
Jens Weinreich
The escalation is founded, among other things, in the fact that Husain Al-Musallam is now facing question. about whether he solicited and received state funds in this OCA election campaign against Sheikh Al-Sabah.
If this were the case, it would inevitably lead to an investigation, wouldn't it?
But by whom? By the so-called IOC sthics commission? By the Aquatics Integrity Unit? By the so-called OCA ethics commission?
Please don't laugh yet. We'll explain these absurdities in detail in a moment.
In the deep end of murky waters
"Politically motivated allegations"? The gentle reader has been familiar with similar arguments, and in some cases avenues of escape, for decades.
Whenever Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah and his henchman Husain Al-Musallam got into trouble, such statements were published – and PR people and spin doctors were commissioned to spread such messages. At the same time, as we have documented in several cases over the years, so-called ethics committees, appointed by Sheikh Ahmad and Al-Musallam, were tasked with issuing express statements of acquittal.
If you asked these alleged ethics chiefs, as happened several times (such as the still acting OCA ethics chief Wei Jizhong from China), they had to confess that they had never read relevant documents such as indictments, court judgements and the like. It was always enough for them to ask those friends from Kuwait who had elevated them to positions. The answers were usually: an internal Kuwaiti matter, malicious insinuations, politically motivated allegations, will be clarified quickly or is already in the process of being clarified.
Well, in fact, nothing was ever really "clarified".
The fact that Husain Al-Musallam has been listed in Department of Justice (DOJ) court records as bribe payer and co-conspirator #3 since 2017 is an incontrovertible fact that the Olympic family just doesn't care about.
Read more well-documented background information here:
Jens Weinreich
Even when we published documents and audio recordings in the summer of 2017 suggesting that Husain Al-Musallam, as OCA director general, deducted kickbacks from sponsor payments, nothing was "clarified".
Listen to the recording again: it's about percentages and of course also about the then still powerful Olympic Sheikh Ahmad. The OCA clerks had to record such conversations secretly back then.
Read the full story with more documents. Finance investigative journalism. Subscribe to THE INQUISITOR. Be well informed.
Craig Lord
