The IOC have refused to recognise the result from the OCA General Assembly in Bangkok on July 8 when Sheikh Talal Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah was elected as successor to his brother Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah.

As insidethegames revealed exclusively yesterday, an IOC inquiry has now concluded that the result was heavily influenced by Sheikh Ahmad, now the Deputy Prime Minister of Kuwait and Defence Minister.

He travelled on a Government jet around Asia to persuade countries to vote for Sheikh Talal and then held secret meetings in Bangkok where he continued to campaign.

This was despite the fact that Sheikh Ahmad, self-suspended as an IOC member after being convicted of forgery in a Swiss court, had been warned by the IOC's chief ethics and compliance officer Pâquerette Girard Zappelli not to interfere in the election.

The findings of the investigation, presented to the IOC Executive Board during the second day of its Executive Board meeting here yesterday, have accused Wei of failing to stop the election even though he knew it was unconstitutional.

It has also alleged he failed to conduct a proper investigation afterwards, of making contradictory statements to the IOC inquiry and collaborating with a senior member of Sheik Ahmad's staff.

Sheikh Talal should have been ruled ineligible even before the General Assembly as Kuwait, his parent National Olympic Committee, had already nominated Husain Al-Musallam, the OCA’s director general and chief of World Aquatics, for President.

Sheikh Talal was eventually allowed to stand after Al-Musallam wrote to the OCA to say that "in the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play" he would not object if his nomination was accepted.

Sheikh Talal eventually won the election, beating Al-Musallam by 24 votes to 20.

At the start of the General Assembly, India’s Debendranath Sarangi, in his capacity as the OCA Ethics Committee deputy chair and a member of the OCA Electoral Commission, warned "that information on governmental interference with the election process had reached the OCA Electoral Commission."

It was agreed that an investigation would need to be carried out after the vote due to shortage of time.

This, though, never happened with the IOC investigation discovering "no follow-up action was undertaken at the appropriate time, even though it might have affected the eligibility of one of the candidates."

Even when the Philippine Olympic Committee contacted Wei to officially request a full investigation into the elections, he did not do anything and claimed his term as head of the OCA Ethics Committee had finished with the election of a new President.

But, on July 22, Wei wrote to the IOC that "after a clear investigation, the OCA Ethics Committee did not find any indication of any violation before, during and after the elections".

When challenged by the IOC for a copy of the reasoned decision, Wei replied that "before the voting, the OCA Electoral Commission had not received any complaint or any infringement indication … and the OCA Electoral Commission and OCA Ethics Committee had no reason to conduct an investigation thus far."

As the IOC report highlighted, "It should be noted that Mr Wei’s two consecutive answers regarding the investigation are contradictory and are also in contradiction with the statement made during the OCA General Assembly by the Deputy Chair of the OCA Ethics Committee."

During the investigation, the IOC discovered, Wei was in contact with Haider Farman, the OCA's former director for Asian Games who had travelled to Bangkok with Sheikh Ahmad, to seek advice on how to deal with its questions from Zappelli.

"Such transmission of the [Zappelli’s] email clearly calls into question the credibility of the OCA Ethics Committee’s ability to carry out its mission during the election process and highlights the interference of Sheikh Talal and Sheikh Ahmad," the IOC report concluded.

"This is reinforced by the fact that Mr Wei did not share the Philippines NOC’s request with the other members of the Committee."

This was not the first instance of Wei, a former President of the International Volleyball Federation and secretary general of the Chinese Olympic Committee, defending the interests of Sheikh Ahmad.

At the OCA General Assembly in 2019, also in Bangkok, Wei ruled that Sheikh Ahmad should not be prevented from standing for an eighth term as OCA President, despite the fact he had already been charged with forgery in a case in Geneva.

Sheikh Ahmad stood down as OCA President in 2021 after 30 years in charge having subsequently been found guilty, although he has since appealed the verdict and is waiting to hear the outcome.

Following what happened in Bangkok, the IOC banned Sheikh Ahmad for three years and the investigation has concluded that Sheikh Talal should not be allowed to stand in the re-election.

The decision means that the House of Sabah will almost certainly lose control of the OCA for the first time since it was founded in 1982 by the brothers' father Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

India's Randhir Singh has resumed his position as Acting President of the OCA at the request of the IOC after their refusal to recognise the election.