Two Employees And A Consultant Were Fleecing Global Track And Field Organization For Several Years

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

A report by Wire Sports caused World Athletics on Thursday to admit that it had uncovered a scheme within its own ranks to steal money from the organization.

According to statement from World Athletics, one of the employees left the organization before the theft was discovered. Another employee and a consultant were terminated following an internal investigation into the scandal. 

Former chief operating officer Vinesh Kochhar and James Lord, a former director of broadcast, are the names that have surfaced and are under scrutiny, according to Wire Sports. The third person has not been named. 

The theft took place over several years and totaled $1.75 million, or €1.5m. 

World Athletics' finance department discovered the theft while undergoing its first audit under a new financial leadership team. 

“Unfortunately, corporate theft happens in organizations around the world and across all industry sectors at different levels. The most important thing is to identify it, review how it was able to happen and then introduce new processes and enhanced controls to ensure it doesn’t happen again," World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said. “We are also determined to recover whatever monies we are able using the full force of the law to do this. Too many organisations brush incidents like this under the carpet, terminating employment with limited information which allows perpetrators to continue their scams and thefts within new organisations. We are not that type of organisation.. This is what we have done."