Sports officials grilled for hours over Rio Olympics fiasco

Three sports officials were yesterday questioned by police for more than seven hours over bungled travel arrangements, mismanagement and mistreatment of Kenyan athletes at the just concluded Rio Olympic Games.

They were Sports Principal Secretary Richard Ekai and two National Olympic Committee (NOC-K) officials Stephen Arap Soi and James Chacha.

Soi (Team Kenya's Chef de Mission) and Chacha (NOC-K Chief Executive Officer) were arrested on Friday night at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by officials from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), just moments after they arrived from Rio de Janeiro.

Ekai went to the DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road in Nairobi for grilling at midday.

The two NOC-K officials were conspicuously missing at the airport when the team emerged from the arrivals lounge, as they had been whisked away by CIDs to Kileleshwa (Soi) and Gigiri (Chacha) police stations, with their luggage left unattended at the airport.

After spending a night in the cells, the officials were interrogated at the DCI yesterday before being detained.

And as the interrogation was going on, the DCI officers raided NOC-K offices at the 2000 Plaza, Mombasa Road, where they recovered hundreds of cartons containing Team Kenya uniforms for Rio Olympic Games.

DCI Director Ndegwa Muhoro said the two, together with NOC-K Secretary General Francis Paul, who had been grilled on Friday, are the main suspects in their probe and some of them will take a plea probably tomorrow.

"They are our main focus for now and will probably be charged with a number of offences. We are investigating the issue of missing kits and claims by athletes that they were bot paid allowances," said Muhoro.

He said the kits recovered at the 2000 Plaza will be used as exhibits. They include jumpers, sweatpants, caps, swimming costumers and other training and competition kits.

"Ekai was among those questioned by police but has been allowed to go home. The the rest will spend another night in custody as we continue with our investigations. We are looking into the Sports Act and the complaints raised by the athletes before preferring charges, which my include abuse of office," said Muhoro.