Follow Up: Why Does Nike And Kenya Sign A Sponsorship Contract To Pay A Sum Of Money?

Face

Competition,

In order to maintain the sponsorship contract signed by the Kenya Federation of Arts and sports, a large number of signing contracts were provided, but the money was not used to train and finance athletes, but fell into the pockets of the officials of the Federation.

The question now is whether Nike has taken the initiative to facilitate such violations.

Officials in Kenya, Nairobi and Kenya said Nike suddenly panicked when a Chinese company suddenly rushed to take the initiative to sponsor Kenya's famous runners.

"Can we talk about this situation?" after hearing Kenya's desire to terminate the contract with Nike, a Nike executive wrote to an official in Kenya.

"You and I are old acquaintances."

According to the e-mails, letters, bank records and invoices provided by a former employee of the Kenya Sports Federation, what happened next was a big scandal in Kenya, the country that is in the biggest anti-corruption war in many years.

In a contract signed a few years ago, Nike agreed to voluntarily pay tens of thousands of dollars in fees and a $500 thousand one-time commitment bonus, which the former employee described as bribery.

The money should be used to help train and support poor athletes in Kenya who dream of running away from poverty.

However, they were immediately taken away from the Federation's bank account by a group of officials of the Kenya Sports Federation, and they were not yet accounted for.

Nike denied any irregularities and said in a statement that the money it paid was intended to help athletes.

It does not seem to have been investigated by the US authorities at present.

But the Kenya authorities are very suspicious.

They have launched a large-scale investigation, and all three officials accused of receiving Nike money have been suspended from Kenya.

Investigators at the Kenya s Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Kenya say they have repeatedly asked Nike to provide more information.

They said that up to now, Nike has refused their request.

A criminal investigation bureau, an investigator, said, "why do we have to pay such a large sum of money for signing a contract?"

"Only Nike can tell us the answer."

John Githongo, a pioneer in Kenya's anti-corruption campaign, said the US government should take over the matter and look into the matter in the end. John Chisongo,

Over the past 20 years, Nike has been paying millions of dollars to the Kenya national long distance runner Association. In return, these Kenya athletes wear Nike logo clothing and shoes, which has become a classic advertising case in the running world.

Kenya athletes maintain the world record of 800 meters, 1000 meters, 3000 meters, 20000 meters, 25000 meters, 30000 meters, half marathons and marathons, and this list can continue to pull down.

Professional runners in other countries say that every time athletes in Kenya wear red, green and black suits on the runway and begin to stretch their toes, they feel a sense of fear.

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Ethiopia athletes, who also performed well in the long distance race, signed a sponsorship agreement with Adidas, but an official in the country said they did not include contract money in their contracts.

Several professional runners say they have heard of individual signing contracts, but have never heard of such a large number of one-time signing contracts for a National Federation.

Last November, athletes in Kenya heard that Nike's hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen by the big guys, and they were furious. They held a protest outside Nairobi's Association headquarters.

These excellent athletes put up their tents on the grass and put up signs, which read "blood sucers".

Some of them have not finished their studies.

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Now, one of the questions that Kenya investigators are trying to answer is whether Nike has deliberately opened the door to officials in Kenya so that they can put their money in their pockets.

The shock wave of Nike's deal came at a time when Western embassies and consulates put pressure on Kenya to fight corruption.

Almost every day, there are new accusations, involving new scandals, such as the purchase of plastic pens by a government ministry, the cost of $85 by a judge in the high court, the bribe received by a judge in the high court for $2 million, and the gains from a multi billion dollar bond deal.

Western countries threaten to impose sanctions, and the US government is also willing to make a noise about corruption. The White House officials also disclosed a plan of "29 points" to eradicate corruption.

Therefore, Yoshikamatsu Ko said that if the US government was unwilling to investigate the allegations faced by a landmark American company such as Nike, it would be "hypocritical" to "bombardment" Kenya.

U.S. diplomats in Nairobi, Kenya, say the US government is willing to investigate all alleged corruption charges against US companies, but at the moment they do not know the specific situation of Nike's deal, apart from Kenya and international media reports.

This accusation goes back to 2009.

According to the chain formed by e-mail, Kenya officials accused Nike of treating Kenya as a "dumping ground" for Nike clothing.

A member of the Executive Board of Athletics Kenya, Kenya Athletics Federation, said, but these complaints were only a tactic of Kenya officials, in order to relieve Nike's contract so as to accept bribes from another company.

Shortly after complaining to Nike, the Kenya Federation of field officials reached a sponsorship agreement with a Chinese sporting goods business empire Li Ning Co founded by a famous gymnast.

A marketing agent who played the role of a middleman between the Chinese company and the Kenya Association then sent nearly $200 thousand to the Kenya Athletics Federation Athletics Kenya, which was quickly taken away by a senior official.

Papa Massata Diack, who is responsible for the payment of the money, has recently been suspended for life by the the International Association of Athletics Federations, the global management agency of the track and field project, Papa Masata Diack.

He and his father, Lamine Diack (Lamine Diack), who was the head of the IAAF, are now being investigated by the French authorities because they are involved in several charges including extortion and bribery.

Officials in Kenya have even begun discussions.

The new Lining match was served, but they soon learned that getting rid of Nike's sponsorship agreement was harder than they had expected.

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Kenya officials received a letter from a lawyer from Nike, saying that after the termination of the contract had no legal basis, they suddenly changed their mind.

They negotiated a contract with Nike, and Nike agreed to pay Athletics Kenya $1 million 300 thousand to $150 a year in the contract, plus an annual fee of $100 thousand and a $500 thousand one-time signing fee.

"Whenever you see words like" commitment fees "," commitment bonuses "," usage fee "(access fees), and" use of gold "(access bonuses), they will immediately arouse my alertness.

Gezon, a consultant who led the Kenya government's internal anti-corruption department but later withdrew from Kenya and fled the country for many years.

"Traditionally, they are beautiful words to cover up bribery."

Nike executives refused to discuss the contract, but issued a short statement, saying that the money paid to Athletics Kenya was intended to support athletes.

The statement said that Nike's integrity management, "we are in line with the local authorities' investigation."

But this has been denied by investigators in Kenya.

Several analysts said Nike could not afford to lose the sponsorship contract for Kenya athletes.

Running is related to the connotation of Nike brand. In 1970s, Nike founders made their first running shoes soles with waffle baking plates.

Kenya people have become an indispensable part of running culture.

Nike provided detailed guidance in the document to explain how the annual fee of $100 thousand should be spent (reimbursement of travel expenses, telephone charges and other expenses).

Although the former employee who worked in Athletics Kenya's administrative assistant and other positions for more than 10 years wrote to a Nike executive, he did not provide details about the signing of the contract at present. "Kenya"

The former aide said in a swearing in statement to Kenya investigators that the $500 thousand signing fee was "bribe from Nike" so that officials of the association could repay the $200 thousand they had made hastily with the Chinese company before they could agree to renew the contract with Nike and get more money.

The former administrative assistant asked not to disclose his name, saying that exposing high-level corruption in Kenya is extremely dangerous.

Others feel the same way.

"Take it away! It can kill you!" a member of the Athletics Kenya committee saw a reporter's eyes widening when he pulled out a revised Nike contract in the interview and shouted out.

The contract contains a $500 thousand contract.

The member of the board said he had also received death threats for public discussion of corruption, so he also asked not to use his name.

He said the corruption problem of the Kenya Athletic Association is deeply rooted and blatant. The federation officials even used to bribe athletes who did not pass the drug test.

He said that the chairman of the group, Isaiah Kiplagat, had asked Nike to pfer the contract money directly to his personal account, but Nike rejected his request. Isaiah Capragat, the chairman of the group, said that

Instead, Nike remitted the money to the Union's account.

But before that, the chairman sent an e-mail to Nike executive Robert Lotvis (Robert Lotwis), with the word "invoice" on the label.

"Urgent!!" wrote in the mail, "dear Robert, $500 thousand is the signing fee.

Good luck, Isaiah Capragat, chairman. "

According to the documents, Nike made a reply in ten hours.

"Yes," Lott Weiss replied. "I will submit it at once.

Thank you. "

Bank records show that within a few days, the 500 thousand dollars were taken away by Athletics Kenya officials.

At that time, there was no large-scale track and field activities being held. The director of the board of the IAAF board and the former administrative assistant said that all the money had been fooled by the Executive Committee of the Athletics Kenya, including a $200 thousand account remitted to a bank account in Hongkong.

Several analysts said that the chairman of the Kenya Federation of trade unions requested the money to be pferred to his personal account, and then an e-mail with the word "urgent!" was added. These should be used as a clue to warn Nike: the situation is not right.

Cape Rajat and two other officials who had been affected have denied wrongdoing.

When consulting a federal prosecutor about the allegations, the prosecutor said that in many corruption cases, there were signs of intent to commit crimes, and in this case, there was no apparent concealment in Nike.

The prosecutor, who requested anonymity, was reluctant to reveal his identity. He also said it was hard to prove that Nike executives knew that the officials of the Kenya Federation of trade unions were planning to embezzle the money.

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However, there is no doubt about the former administrative assistant.

"The reason is that Nike has held several secret meetings with officials of the Kenya Athletic Association," he said in an affidavit to investigators.

"My view is that Nike officials have always been aware that these problematic rewards are not appropriate."

Analysts say the incident is particularly troublesome because it does not seem to apply to the the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which covers the US company and foreign government officials.

Although the Kenya Tian Lian receives some government funds, it is not a government organ in Kenya.

"The sports community has been evolving in the loopholes of governance," said Roger Berek, a political science scholar at the University of Colorado in the University of Colorado.

He pointed out that the Sports Federation of Athletics Kenya and FIFA FIFA, also known as the international football management organization, which is also deeply involved in corruption scandals, are usually in the gap between the three companies that are supervised by companies, public institutions, and traditional non-profit organizations, although the nature of these three sports federations all have their own characteristics. "Kenya"

Berek said bribery, misappropriation and "unpleasant and inappropriate business practices" are common.

"I always hear such things from sports officials," he said. "To survive in this circle, this is the rules of the game."