The Aquatics Integrity Unit of World Aquatics has issued a 20-year ban to Marcos Jara, the former president of the Chilean Federation of Aquatics Sport.
World Aquatics delivered the sanction after Jara was found to have violated the FINA Code of Conduct on two counts and the FINA Code of Ethics on one count.
Jara submitted tampered invoices and false information to World Aquatics on two occasions in 2020 and 2021 in a ploy to gain additional funds through the Olympic Aquatics Support Program. He received an additional $50,000 USD through his corrupt actions before an investigation was launched.
Jara was provisionally charged on August 25, 2023, and the official ban will extend to August 25, 2043, after being formally enacted in March.
Under the ban, Jara is ineligible to participate in any aquatic-related activities on behalf of World Aquatics or any other continental organization, World Aquatics member, or recognized body. He has also been handed a fine of $50,000 to repay the misappropriated funds.
Jara is one of multiple officials to receive bans from World Aquatics over the last several months.
The former president of the National Swimming Federation of North Macedonia, Aleksandar Malenko, was given a lifetime ban in January, while Taha Sulaiman Al Kishry, former chairman of the Arab Swimming Federation was suspended for 18 months just a few days later.
Most recently, Christopher Duenas and Andrew Ho Lee, both coaches and administrators of the Guam Swimming Federation, were banned for three years after violating World Aquatics’ integrity code.
Jara served as president of the Chilean Federation of Aquatics Sport from 2019 until 2021.
AQIU is picking on people/nations that aren’t big players to show that World Aquatics is holier than thou. Of course they don’t penalize anyone from a country that provides big bucks and there is obvious corruption. Zhou Jihong is the most obvious example. They couldn’t run away from that case as much as they tried and her influence continues to be a sour point in diving
Absolutely agree!