Maxwell De Silva, the current Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka has come under intense scrutiny of the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Committee, after he along with Kuwait’s Haider Farman, was captured on CCTV at a secret meeting with the now International Olympic Committee’s banned Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah at a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
This was barely 24 hours prior to the now concluded controversial OCA Elections that was held in Bangkok, Thailand on the 8th of July 2023.
What’s controversial about this meeting is that the IOC’s Ethics Committee had earlier informed all its members to refrain from meeting Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah who had flown in a private jet into Bangkok to canvas votes from other member countries in support of his brother Sheikh Talal Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who was contesting for the post of OCA President.
Sheikh Ahmad Al – Fahad Al- Sabah, who is also Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, was instructed by IOC’s Ethics Chief and Compliance Officer Pâquerette Girard Zappelli, not to interfere with the elections.
This is especially as he had previously self-suspended himself as an IOC member and had stepped aside as the President of the Association of National Olympic Committees in November 2018, after he was originally charged with forgery.
His trip to Bangkok was subsequently viewed as a direct violation to the OCA Election process and the series of secret meetings held eventually led to the IOC subsequently banning him for three years.
Nevertheless his untiring efforts eventually bore his desired result, as his 58-year-old sibling Sheikh Talal went on to win the election by 24 votes to 20 over his fellow countryman Kuwaiti Husain Al-Musallam, the organisation’s Director General and President of World Aquatics.
Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee, whilst upholding the recommendations of its Ethics Committee, decided to refuse accepting the results of the concluded elections due to the controversial role Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah played leading up to his brother’s victory.
In a further startling discovery, the IOC’s Ethics Committee had also found out that NOCSL’s Sec.General Maxwell De Silva had been involved in a secret meeting with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, despite receiving clear instructions to refrain from doing so.
Alarm bells had been set off just prior to the commencement of the OCA Elections with the IOC’s Ethics Committee claiming that Sheikh Ahmad had controlled the said elections from the comfort of his hotel room, resulting in certain countries switching their votes in support of his brother at the last minute.
It is widely believed that Maxwell De Silva had played a pivotal role on behalf of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah in garnering the support of voting member countries to cast their respective votes for the ultimate winner, Sheikh Talal Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah.
Members of several countries also complained to the Ethics Committee that they had found the behaviour of Sri Lankan Maxwell De Silva and a few other members of certain countries to be rather unusual as they had deliberately been disrupting the OCA Elections.
Some even quipped that this type of behaviour appeared to have been a paid ploy for officials to have behaved in such a manner. This type of behaviour was also viewed by most members at the elections in a manner that brought disrepute to their respective countries.
Meanwhile, it is a publicly known fact that the NOCSL Sec. General Maxwell De Silva is by no means a stranger to controversy.
De Silva who has been involved with the NOCSL for over 15 years, is widely known to be a person who accepts lavish gifts for favours granted in return.
At present, Maxwell De Silva is also embroiled in another scandal that is currently being investigated in Sri Lanka.
This is where he is alleged to have been instrumental in sending a group of people to the last Commonwealth Games held in the United Kingdom, on the pretext of them being officials attached to the NOCSL.
As of today, approximately six members of that group are yet to return to Sri Lanka.
