Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah
أحمد الفهد الأحمد الجابر الصباح
Ahmed during a press conference in Tehran
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence
Assumed office
18 June 2023
Prime MinisterAhmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah
Preceded byAbdullah Ali Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah
2nd President of the Olympic Council of Asia
In office
1 July 1991 – 10 September 2021
Preceded byRoy de Silva
Succeeded byRandhir Singh (Acting)
2nd President of the Asian Handball Federation
Assumed office
2 August 1990
1st Vice-PresidentYoshihide Watanabe
Preceded byFahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Member of the International Olympic Committee
Assumed office
23 July 1992
2nd President of the Association of National Olympic Committees
In office
13 April 2012 – 28 November 2018
Preceded byMario Vázquez Raña
Succeeded byRobin E. Mitchell (Acting)
25th Secretary General of OPEC
In office
1 January 2005 – 31 December 2005
Preceded byPurnomo Yusgiantoro
Succeeded byEdmund Daukoru
Minister of Oil of Kuwait
In office
10 February 2002 – 7 February 2006
Prime MinisterSaad Al-Salim Al-Sabah
Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Preceded byAdel Khaled Al-Subaih
Succeeded byAhmad Al Abdullah Al Sabah
Personal details
Born (1963-08-12) 12 August 1963
Beirut, Lebanon
NationalityKuwaiti
Parent
Alma materKuwait University
OccupationPolitician
Sports administrator

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (Arabic: أحمد الفهد الأحمد الجابر الصباح; born 12 August 1963), also known as Ahmad Al-Fahad, is a controversial Kuwaiti politician, ruling family member, and disgraced former sports administrator who is the current Minister of Defense of Kuwait.

His career has been marred by controversy, including a fraud conviction in a Swiss court on 10 September 2021. This led to his resignation from the Olympic Council of Asia, where he previously served as president, and his suspension from the International Olympic Committee.[1] His involvement in the Olympic Council of Asia and International Olympic Committee extended until 2023 when he was banned due to election interference.[2][3][4][5][6] Additionally, he was a member of the FIFA Council from 2015 to 2017 but resigned following his implication in the FIFA bribery scandal.[7][8]

Education and career

Government Service

Ahmed was educated at Kuwait University and the Kuwait Military Academy, and attained the rank of major in the Kuwaiti Army.[2]

He was appointed Kuwait's minister of information in 2000, and acting minister of oil in 2001. In February 2002, he was appointed minister of oil.[9] After Emir Sheikh Jaber died and Sheikh Sabah became Emir, he remained at that position under Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed's government. Ahmed served as Secretary General of OPEC in 2005,[10] and was appointed the director of the National Security Agency in July 2006.[2]

In June 2011, then deputy prime minister and minister of housing affairs, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad, resigned in order to avoid grilling by MPs Marzouq Al-Ghanim and Adel Al-Saraawi over alleged misconduct in government contracts.[11]

On 18 June 2023, Ahmad was appointed Kuwait's Minister of Defense.[12]

Sports

Ahmed has undertaken numerous sporting positions and was the president of the Olympic Council of Asia from 1991 to 2022, a member of the IOC since 1992, was the president of the Kuwait Olympic Committee, chairman of the Afro Asian Games Council, vice president of the International Handball Federation, president of Asian Handball Federation, senior vice president of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation, honorary president of several Kuwaiti, Arab and Asian clubs and was also a member of International Relations and Olympic Solidarity Commission of the IOC.[2]

He also served as coach of the Kuwait national football team. After a failed Asian Cup qualifying campaign in 2006 he launched a tirade against group-winners, Australia, claiming that the AFC should revoke their admission to the Asian continental competition.[13]

Ahmed has been president of the Association of National Olympic Committees since April 2012 and implemented a statistical system for athletes under advise of Charles E Milander.[14]

Controversy

Corruption allegations (2011)

In November 2010, Sheikh Ahmad was accused in parliament by MP Adel Al-Saraawi of running an unauthorised, parallel Kuwaiti government. The accusations that Sheikh Ahmad controlled parts of the government that lay outside his responsibility were fuelled by the fact that his brother Sheikh Athbi Al-Fahad Al-Sabah became head of the Kuwait State Security apparatus.[15] In March 2011, MPs aligned with former Kuwait prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed (Marzouq Al-Ghanim and Adel Al-Saraawi)[11] in Kuwait's National Assembly threatened to grill Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad, then deputy prime minister, over misconduct in government contracts, leading to Ahmad's resignation from government in June 2011.[16][17]

Fake coup video

In December 2013, allies of Ahmad Al-Fahad claimed to possess tapes purportedly showing that Nasser Al-Mohammed and former Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi were discussing plans to topple the Kuwaiti government.[18][16] Ahmad Al-Fahad appeared on local channel Al-Watan TV describing his claims.[19]

In April 2014 the Kuwaiti government imposed a total media blackout to ban any reporting or discussion on the issue.[20] In March 2015, Kuwait's public prosecutor dropped all investigations into the alleged coup plot and Ahmad Al-Fahad read a public apology on Kuwait state television renouncing the coup allegations.[21] Since then, "numerous associates of his have been targeted and detained by the Kuwaiti authorities on various charges,"[16] most notably his brother Athbi and members of the so-called "Fintas Group" that had allegedly been the original circulators of the 'fake' coup video.[16][22]

In December 2015, Ahmad was convicted of "disrespect to the public prosecutor and attributing a remark to the country’s ruler without a special permission from the emir’s court," issuing a suspended six-month prison sentence and a fine of 1,000 Kuwaiti Dinar. In January 2016, the Kuwaiti appeals court overturned the prior ruling and cleared Ahmed of all charges.[23]

Swiss fraud conviction

In November 2018, Ahmed, along with four others, was charged in Switzerland with forgery related to staging a sham arbitration in Switzerland to authenticate the fake video purporting to show a coup plot in Kuwait, after claims put forth by lawyers representing Nasser Al-Mohammad and Jassem Al-Kharafi.[24] Shortly thereafter, Ahmed temporarily stepped aside from his role at the International Olympic Committee, pending an ethics committee hearing into the allegations.[25][26]

On August 30, 2021, Ahmed attended court alongside three of the other four defendants: Hamad Al-Haroun (Ahmed's Kuwaiti former aide) and Geneva-based lawyers from Bulgaria and Ukraine. A fifth defendant, English lawyer Matthew Parish, was not in court and was tried in absentia.[27][28]

On September 10, 2021, Sheikh Ahmed was convicted for forgery along with the four other defendants. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, half of it suspended. He denied wrongdoing and has appealed his conviction.[29][1][30] An appeal ruling is not due before September 2023.[31]

International sports corruption

FIFA bribery allegations and resignation

In April 2017, Ahmed resigned from the FIFA Council after being implicated by a member of the FIFA audit committee from Guam, Richard Lai, who pleaded guilty in a US court to taking $950,000 in bribes from the Olympic Council of Asia.[8]

In his guilty plea, Lai said he understood "co-conspirator 2" identified as Sheikh Ahmed was the source of the bribes.[32] This amount "included $750,000 in wire transfers from Kuwaiti accounts controlled by "co-conspirator 3 or his assistants," believed to be Hussain Al-Musallam, "the right-hand man to Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah" according to a report from The Times, to influence key appointments in regional and international soccer bodies.[33][34] Ahmed "vigorously" denied any wrongdoing.[35]

In August 2023, Sheikh Ahmad's brother, his close associate Hussein Al-Musallam, and a shell company, Beriza Limited, suspected to be controlled by Ahmad himself, were named in US court documents as having received millions of dollars in payments from the State of Qatar as bribes and for facilitation of further bribe payments to FIFA officials.[36]

U.S. Department of Justice investigation

In September 2021, the Associated Press reported that Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and Hussain Al-Musallam have been targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice for suspected racketeering and bribery related to FIFA and international soccer politics. According to the AP, in 2017, the US embassy in Kuwait formally requested evidence from the country, including bank account information for the two officials, who have been identified as potential co-conspirators.[37] American prosecutors "told their Kuwaiti counterparts they wanted to establish if the suspects made other payments to [Richard] Lai, or if their accounts were used to wire possible bribe payments to other soccer officials."[38]

IOC ban and Olympic Council of Asia election interference

In July 2023 the head of the IOC ethics commission sent letters to Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad warning him against getting involved in upcoming Olympic Council of Asia elections in Bangkok. The letters urged him to reconsider going to Bangkok “to avoid any type of interference with the Olympic Movement’s activities.”[39] On 27 July 2023, the International Olympic Committee banned Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad for 3 years, approving the recommendation of its ethics committee which found that Sheikh Ahmad had an "undeniable impact" on the OCA elections in support of his brother Talal Al-Fahad's candidacy.[3] On 13 October 2023, the IOC ethics commission told the OCA that its 2023 elections must be annulled due to Sheikh Ahmad's interference and that his brother's candidacy “should have been declared ineligible from the outset”.[40]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Panja, Tariq (10 September 2021). "Olympics Power Broker Convicted in Forgery Case". New York Times.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad AL-SABAH - Kuwait Olympic Committee (Suspension provisionally lifted by the IOC EB on 16 August 2018), IOC Member since 1992". International Olympic Committee. 28 June 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  3. 1 2 "IOC bans Kuwait's Sheikh Ahmad for three years, refuses to recognise OCA election". Reuters. 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  4. ↑ "OCA President closes 18th Asian Games, China overall champion". Antara News. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  5. ↑ Hong, Fan; Zhouxiang, Lu (16 July 2015). The Politicisation of Sport in Modern China: Communists and Champions. Routledge. ISBN 9781317980117.
  6. ↑ "Sheikh Ahmad found guilty of forgery in Geneva court". www.insidethegames.biz. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  7. ↑ "Fifa: Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah resigns following denial of any wrongdoing". BBC. 30 April 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Three Fifa officials banned from football for life over corruption charges". The Independent. 21 November 2017. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  9. ↑ Kuwaiti oil minister resigns. Access date: 10 September 2014. Eugene Register-Guard. Dated February 2002
  10. ↑ "Secretaries General of OPEC 1961–2008" (PDF). OPEC. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  11. 1 2 "News Summary Report 상세보기|News Summary ReportEmbassy of the Republic of Korea to the State of Kuwait". overseas.mofa.go.kr. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  12. ↑ "Kuwait forms cabinet with new oil minister, finance minister re-appointed". Reuters. 18 June 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  13. ↑ "Socceroos should be thrown out of Asia: Kuwait". ABC News. 11 December 2006. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  14. ↑ History of ANOC Archived 14 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine. http://www.acnolympic.org. Access date: 26 February 2015
  15. ↑ "Kuwait: The political scene: Sheikh Ahmed is accused of running his own government". Economist Intelligence Unit. 1 December 2010.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Diwan, Kristin Smith. "Kuwait's constitutional showdown". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  17. ↑ "Kuwait's deputy prime minister resigns - TV". Reuters. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  18. ↑ "'Fake' video tape ends Kuwait coup investigation". BBC News. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  19. ↑ "فيديو: أحمد الفهد الصباح عبر قناة الوطن: يشرح قصة (الشريط) وكيف تعامل معه: وصلني من مصدر مجهول !". مدونة الزيادي (in Arabic). Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  20. ↑ "Kuwait orders media blackout on 'coup' video". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  21. ↑ "Indicted Kuwaiti Sheikh Steps Aside From I.O.C. (Published 2018)". The New York Times. The Associated. 19 November 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  22. ↑ "Kuwaiti royals jailed after appeal in social media case fails". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  23. ↑ "Kuwaiti court overturns conviction of ruling family member - media". Reuters (in Portuguese). 26 January 2016. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  24. ↑ "Powerful Kuwaiti IOC member to be tried in Switzerland for forgery". France 24. 17 November 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  25. ↑ "Indicted Kuwaiti Sheikh Steps Aside From I.O.C. (Published 2018)". The New York Times. 19 November 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  26. ↑ "Sheikh Ahmad al-Sabah stands down from IOC amid forgery allegations". The Guardian. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  27. ↑ "Trial of Olympic sheikh on forgery charges opens in Geneva". AP NEWS. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  28. ↑ "Olympic official quizzed for 5 hours in Geneva forgery trial". ABC News. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  29. ↑ Farge, Emma (10 September 2021). "Kuwait's Sheikh Ahmad convicted of forgery in Geneva trial". Reuters.
  30. ↑ "Sheikh Talal replaces his suspended brother, keeps Asian Olympic leadership in Al Sabah family". AP News. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  31. ↑ "IOC warns convicted Kuwaiti sheikh against getting involved in Asian Olympic election". Washington Post. 7 July 2023. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  32. ↑ "Indicted Kuwaiti Sheikh Steps Aside From I.O.C. (Published 2018)". The New York Times. Associated Press. 19 November 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  33. ↑ Panja, Tariq (3 November 2017). "Powerful Sheikh Linked to Sports Corruption Case Resurfaces in Prague". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  34. ↑ Reporter, Martyn Ziegler, Chief Sports. "Senior swimming executive implicated in Fifa bribery scandal". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 17 October 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ↑ "Fifa official Sheikh Ahmad resigns". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  36. ↑ Rosen, Armin (30 August 2023). "Qatar's World Cup FIFA Bribe Documents Exposed". Tablet Magazine.
  37. ↑ Haroun, Azmi. "The DOJ is investigating two senior Kuwaiti Olympic officials for bribery and racketeering related to FIFA probe". Business Insider. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  38. ↑ "Documents show US investigation of 2 Kuwaitis in FIFA case". Summer Games Olympics 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  39. ↑ "IOC warns convicted Kuwaiti sheikh against getting involved in Asian Olympic election". AP News. 7 July 2023.
  40. ↑ "OCA elections must be invalid over Sheikh Ahmad interference, Olympic Committee ethics chief says". Reuters. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
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