NKE Nike Inc

By Sara Germano 

Three top Kenyan track and field officials have been provisionally suspended by the ethics commission of the sport's global governing body based on several allegations of wrongdoing, including one that the officials diverted sponsorship money from sportswear maker Nike Inc.

The independent ethics commission of the International Association of Athletics Federations said it was suspending Athletics Kenya's president, vice president and former treasurer pending an investigation into several allegations against the officials, including the "potential improper diversion from Athletics Kenya of funds received from Nike."

Nike said it was cooperating with the investigation. Nike's "expectation and understanding of our sponsorship agreement with Athletics Kenya has always been that funds are to be used to support and service the teams and athletes," the company said in a statement.

Athletics Kenya didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The commission said the three officials--President Isaiah Kiplagat, Vice President David Okeyo, and Joseph Kinyua, the former treasurer and team leader--would be provisionally suspended for 180 days while its investigator examines the allegations. Other claims made in the IAAF statement were that the leaders allegedly were subverting antidoping efforts in Kenya, and that Mr. Kiplagat had received "an apparent gift of two motor vehicles from the Qatar Association of Athletics Federation" within the past two years.

The suspensions further an ever-widening crisis facing the sport of track and field, which within the past month has included the suspension of the Russian team amid claims of state-sponsored doping as well as the arrest of the recently retired IAAF president by French authorities for allegedly accepting bribes to cover up Russian doping results.

Monday's claims are the first revelations of alleged corruption that involve a sponsor. Nike, the world's largest sportswear maker, is the top sponsor of track and field world-wide, including both the Russian and Kenyan national teams.

Last week, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said he has severed ties with Nike, for whom he had served as a consultant since 2013, amid concerns it had presented him with a conflict of interest between corporate and governance affairs in track and field.

Write to Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2015 12:45 ET (17:45 GMT)

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