Harassment forces FIBA chief to step down
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announced today, Monday, that its 69-year-old financial president, Hamani Niang, has temporarily resigned from his position pending the completion of the investigations currently underway into allegations of repeated sexual harassment of some employees of the Financial Association during his presidency of Niang between the years 1999 and 2011.
The International Basketball Federation issued a statement, saying: “The International Basketball Federation has received, since June 10, several allegations of systematic sexual harassment within the Mali Basketball Federation during the period during which Hamani assumed the presidency of the Federation in his country, and upon receiving this information, the International Federation on Immediately shared its content with future Integrity Officer Richard McClaren, who has launched an investigation.
"McLaren's Integrity Officer has confirmed the delivery of the full report shortly after the Olympic Games in Tokyo," the statement added.
He continued, "Several allegations were made, that the International Basketball Federation, Niang, knew, or even largely ignored reports of abuse against young players during his tenure as the presidency of the Financial Association, before Niang strongly denied these allegations, and preferred him to step down from his position temporarily. Until the investigations are completed, and their results are revealed after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which will be unveiled next August.”
The statement called on the Basketball Federation, the necessity of full cooperation with the investigation, to suspend the activities of the financial coaches, Amadou Bamba and Omar Sisko, and the administrator, Hario Maiga, from practicing any activity during the investigations.
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