Two Kenyan athletes have claimed that a top official of Athletics Kenya (AK) solicited bribes from them amounting to millions.
The two, each serving four-year bans from taking part in sports over doping, revealed to journalists that AK CEO Isaac Mwangi told each of them to hand him Sh2 Million in order to receive shorter suspensions.
Joyce Sakari and Fransisca Manunga purported that the AK boss asked for the huge kickback in October last year, but were unable to raise it hence they were hit with the long suspension in November.
Speaking to the Associated Press (AP), Mr Mwangi dismissed the allegations as a joke, asserting that he had no power to determine the period of athletes’ suspensions.
“We have heard stories, athletes coming and saying, ‘Oh, you know, I was asked for money....But can you really substantiate that?” the AP quotes Mr Mwangi.
Ms Sakari and Ms Maunga expressed their willingness to testify before the Ethics Commission of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), adding that they would have served a shorter suspension had they issued the bribes.
The global governing body of athletics based in Monaco, is currently investigating claims that AK officials sought to subvert doping efforts in Kenya, solicited bribes and offered athletes softer punishment.
The two runners were each slapped with a 4-year ban in November after they failed a pre-competition doping test at a hotel in Beijing, China.
