Former Athletics South Africa (ASA) president Leonard Chuene, has been found guilty by a disciplinary inquiry panel, 15 months after he was suspended by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
Sascoc said in a statement on Monday Chuene, ASA vice-president Kakata Maponyane and executive member Simon Dlamini, were all found guilty following a lengthy disciplinary process.
“All along we have followed due process and we will continue to do so,” said Sascoc CEO Tubby Reddy.
“We are comfortable with the integrity of the process and the investigation and we will accept whatever action the investigation deems necessary when it makes its final decision.”
Chuene, Maponyane and Dlamini went to court to fight the suspensions handed down by Sascoc in November 2009.
The other members of the ASA board, who were all suspended at the time, resigned from their positions.
After losing the legal battle in November last year, when Judge Moroa Tsoka found Sascoc to have acted lawfully in suspending the ASA board, the trio faced a disciplinary hearing chaired by Advocate Norman Arendse.
The charges faced by the three board members after Sascoc commissioned a forensic audit into ASA included poor corporate governance, misappropriation of funds and tax evasion.
Sascoc said Arendse had found the trio guilty of a number of “serious charges”, but they were found not guilty of other charges.
The ASA and Sascoc boards were given the option to either act on the findings of the inquiry panel or refer them back for appropriate action.
Sascoc said it had elected to hand the matter back to the inquiry and that Chuene, Dlamini and Maponyane would have until Thursday to appeal the findings.
Thereafter the disciplinary inquiry would announce their sanctions. – Sapa