Boxing Commission of Fiji (BCF) chairman Adi Narayan claimed that he was framed after he was alleged by AIBA (International Boxing Association) to have misused US$19,000 (FJ$44,268) in 2009.

Narayan was reacting to an unsigned 2009 IBA Executive Committee meeting minutes, on February 16-18 in Milan, Italy, where it highlighted the allegation.

“Mr Narayan proposed to pay NZ$400 (FJ$527) per month to refund the money he misused. An agreement was a schedule for the repayment of the undue withdrawals amounting to NZ$23,000 (FJ $30,302) has been prepared by the AIBA lawyer.

“The agreement is for him to pay $NZ400 (FJ$527) per month until he finds a job and then the monthly amount due can be increased,” stated the minutes, as the matter was before Ricadro Contreras who handled all disciplinary, ethics related issues and legal cases on the AIBA executive meeting.

Narayan was then Cook Islands representative to AIBA since he was the Cook Islands amateur boxing president from 2007. AIBA during that time was under the presidency of Taiwan’s Dr Ching- Kuo Wu, who ascended to the top job in 2006.

The allegation was again highlighted by Infobae, an Argentinean online newspaper in an article published on June 21, 2021,

“The former chairmen of two AIBA commissions are accused of taking money from the federation. Former Finance Commission chair Adi Narayan of Cook Islands has admitted to taking $19,000 but has not indicated he will repay the money. AIBA is seeking criminal prosecution in the Cook Islands,” stated the article.

Speaking to SUNsports, Narayan refuted the allegation indicating that it was his stand against corruptive practices that resulted in him being removed from AIBA.

“So what happened was that everything was going fine until the Beijing Olympics (2208), the president of AIBA asked me to sign a cheque for his supporters who had voted for him (to retain the president’s position) during the AIBA general meeting,” Narayan recalled.

“I refused to authorise that payment. At that time I was the chairman of the AIBA Finance Commission, so all payments had to go through the chairman, which is me. I refused to approve that payment and I began to question the CEO (chief executive officer) of AIBA.

“Then the president of AIBA sent me an email saying that I don’t question his authority and should sign the cheque but I refused and that was the beginning of the end for me.”

He claimed that it was there they plotted to frame him.

“I did not plead guilty to the allegation. Today nothing has been done about it and they’ve put it on the AIBA Facebook and whatever. I was accused of that, nothing happened, just allegations.”

Narayan also claimed that after he left AIBA, corruptive practices began to surface, which led to its suspension by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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