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Sunday, September 10
Officials believed to have ties to organized crime
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- Even though he's still not sure why it
happened, IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said Sunday he
accepted the Australian government's decision to deny two Olympic
officials entry to the games.
Samaranch had asked for a full explanation from Prime Minister
John Howard for the ban on Uzbek boxing official Gafur Rakhimov and
Chinese basketball official Carl Ching.
Both have been accused of having ties to organized crime.
"We accept the decision because we have to trust, and we trust
the Australian government," Samaranch said. "There must be some
reasons (for the decision), but I don't know. The Australian
government must have the important reasons to take this very tough
decision."
Under an agreement between the IOC and Australia's federal
government, the Olympic credential doubles as an entry visa to the
country for the games, which begin next Friday.
In a letter to Howard, Samaranch called the action "a matter of
most serious concern for the Olympic movement," saying it went
against the government's commitment to allow entry to all
accredited Olympic personnel.
In his reply, Howard wrote:
"The paramount consideration in decisions taken to refuse entry
has been the safety and security of the Australian community. I am
satisfied that the Minister for Immigration has made the right
decision."
Despite Samaranch's request for full details, he did not give
specific reasons behind the decision to keep the men out of
Australia.
Samaranch said he did not know Ching, but had met Rakhimov
during one or two trips to Tashkent, the capital of the former
Soviet republic of Uzbekistan.
"In his country, he is a very important man," Samaranch said.
"But he's not only a businessman. He's involved in sports and he's
helping a lot the national Olympic committee of his country."
As for Rakhimov's alleged organized crime links, Samaranch said:
"I don't know what he's doing."
Rakhimov is a senior executive of the International Amateur
Boxing Association, vice president of the Uzbek Boxing Federation
and vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia.
In a recent book that quotes FBI and Russian police files,
Rakhimov is described as an organized crime boss in Uzbekistan.
"The Great Olympic Swindle," by British author and journalist
Andrew Jennings, says the FBI office in Miami opened a file on
Rakhimov in 1995 under the heading "Russian Organized
Crime/Racketeering" and listing him as a top figure of the new
"Eastern Mafia."
The book also cites a dossier on Rakhimov in the Moscow office
of the Chief Directorate for Fighting Economic Crime.
Ching is president of the Asian Basketball Confederation and
vice president of the international basketball federation.
Hong Kong media reports said Ching, 60, had been under police
surveillance on suspicion of being linked with China's crime
syndicates, known as "triads."
In 1994, Ching was barred from attending the world basketball
championships in Canada for national security reasons.
The Sunday Morning Post in Hong Kong quoted Ching as being
outraged by the decision to keep him out of Australia.
Ching said he had attended the Olympics in Los Angeles, Seoul,
Barcelona and Atlanta, where he claimed he was made an "honorable
citizen."
"I have attended many games," he was quoted as saying. "How
can they refuse me? I am a 60-year-old. I have not done anything
wrong. I have never joined any illegal organization."
Ching said he would pay $1 million to anyone who could prove he
was involved in criminal activities.
"Either it's racial discrimination or insulting," Ching was
quoted as saying.
Ching threatened to sue or go to the United Nations or various
global sports organizations with his complaint.
"If Australia does not allow me to attend the Olympic Games in
Sydney, the government of Sydney, Australia and the Olympics are
very poor, bad," Ching was quoted as saying.
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