The IOC Executive Board has decided to withhold all payments to the ICSD, amid a continuing embezzlement investigation against President Rukhledev ©IOC

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Executive Board has decided to withhold all payments to the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) amid continuing allegations of embezzlement against its President Valery Rukhledev.

The Executive Board have also announced here that they will not invite Rukhledev to the Olympism in Action Forum in Buenos Aires in October.

In May, Rukhledev, who was elected President of the ICSD in 2013, was placed under two months of house arrest amid a continuing investigation into accusations that he embezzled more than Rs50 million (£604,000/$803,800/€690,000) from the All-Russian Society of the Deaf in Moscow.

The 70-year-old, a six-time Deaflympics champion for the Soviet Union between 1969 and 1977 in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, has been charged under the Russian Criminal Code and is due to remain under house arrest until Monday (July 23).

ICSD President Valery Rukhledev has been under house arrest since May, amid a continuing investigation into allegations of embezzlement ©ICSD
ICSD President Valery Rukhledev has been under house arrest since May, amid a continuing investigation into allegations of embezzlement ©ICSD

Tatyana Zembatova, head of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf's financial department, has also been detained for the same period, while Evgeny Novoseltsev, the former head of legal support at the body, was arrested in January on suspicion of swindling funds.

A statement released by the IOC's Executive Board (EB) said the payments and any potential invitation to the Forum will be withheld "until the situation is appropriately addressed to the full satisfaction of the EB".

The EB will hear a further report on the case during its next meetings on October 3 and 4.

In other news it was also decided that the International Ice Stock Sport Federation (IFI) would be granted provisional IOC recognition by the Executive Board.

The IFI will now therefore be able to receive funding from the IOC and can apply for development programmes, though full IOC recognition can only be granted by the Session after a probationary period.