By Ashley Wiseman, Western Communications
Western Law professor Richard McLaren will lead an investigation into alleged corruption within the governing body of the sport of weightlifting and its long-time leader, Tamas Ajan, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Executive Board announced last week.
The move comes following allegations made in the TV documentary series Secret Doping: Lord of the Lifters, which aired Jan. 5 on the German-state broadcaster ARD.
Founded in 1905, the International Weightlifting Federation, headquartered in Budapest, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting.
The recent documentary claimed leadership of the IWF, including President Ajan, participated in and/or had knowledge of financial irregularities, corruption, doping control distribution, doping sample manipulation, doping payment regularities, doping activities in specific nations, and nepotism.
An acting president has been put in place by the IWF for the next 90 days while McLaren’s team completes its independent investigation.
McLaren, LLB’71, will serve as Investigation Chair, along with his team including Martin Dubbey, Managing Director of the U.K.-based Harod Associates, and Steven Berryman, a financial investigator who once led an investigation of financial corruption in international soccer linked to senior FIFA officials.
“As independent investigators, we intend to follow every lead with the ultimate objective of uncovering the truth,” McLaren said.
McLaren will liaise with the IWF Executive Board through the newly established IWF Oversight and Integrity Commission.
“We need someone who is not a friend of weightlifting to look into these serious and historic allegations,” said IWF Acting President Ursula Garza. “If we are to get to the bottom of this, we required an investigator whose findings will be trusted and undeniable. That is why we selected Professor McLaren.”
This is not the first time McLaren has been appointed to investigate misconduct allegations in the sports industry. He served as a Court of Arbitration for Sport judge before working to verify a Russian whistleblower’s claims of cheating and coverups at the 2014 Sochi Olympics resulted in the World Anti-Doping Association banning the country from 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
McLaren is now an Adjunct Research Professor at Western Law who has taught courses in the areas of sports law, alternative dispute resolution, commercial law, and business law. He also works as a lawyer at London-based firm McKenzie Lake Lawyers LLP.