In the past decade, the functionary repeatedly took bribes from representatives of the Russian biathlon for lobbying the interests of the Russian Federation
Ex-president International Biathlon Union (IBU) Anders Besseberg was sentenced to three years and one month in prison on charges of numerous counts of corruption.
The 78-year-old official was found guilty of nine of ten charges, most of which related to receiving valuable items and various services from Russian biathlon officials in response to lobbying for the interests of that country.
Besseberg, a former Norwegian biathlete and coach, was the initiator of the creation and the first president of the IBU from 1993 to 2018. He left his position in 2018 following a police raid on the IBU headquarters.
Among the proven episodes of the accusation are repeated receipt of expensive watches as a bribe from Russian officials; provision of services of prostitutes; trips to Russia to hunt wild boar, deer, elk and deer, and the transportation of the chief’s hunting “trophies” was carried out by IBU personnel. All these cases took place between 2011 and 2018.
In return, the official lobbied for the interests of Russia in international biathlon and, in particular, covered various doping stories in which Russian athletes were involved.
Initially, the prosecution demanded for Besseberg three years and seven months in prison, a fine of 1 million Norwegian kroner (about 3.6 million hryvnia) and confiscation of property in the amount of 1.45 million kroner.
The verdict did not immediately take effect because Besseberg’s side filed an appeal.
Source: Sportarena
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