A group alleged to be misrepre­senting the Boxing Commission of Fiji (BCF) for boxers to take part in Australia, is now under Police investigation.

This was confirmed to SUNsports yes­terday by BCF chairman, Subhash Ap­pana.

According to Appana one of the country’s top professional boxers is the brains behind the group.

“The Fiji Police have received the re­port lodged from the Boxing Commis­sion of Fiji against the group alleged to have sneaked through the system, misrepresenting BCF illegally,” Appana said.

“They will have to face the consequenc­es, and their alleged associated aiders and abettors will also be answerable for the same.”

Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said the case was reported to them in April.

“It is under investigation, a case of for­gery.”

“Only one person is a suspect, not a group,” Naisoro said.

Appana said BCF was diligently work­ing on strengthening its good govern­ance structure in managing boxers here.

He said one area that had been a major concern was the participation of Fijian boxers in overseas programmes.

“In the immediate aftermath of the COVID pandemic, some 20 boxers were released by BCF for largely economic reasons as requested by their respective officials.”

“Sadly, even though there were promising outings, none was success­ful,” he said.

“To manage this, rules were tightened to ensure that boxers were assured to give credible performances before offi­cial release was sanctioned by BCF.”

“This meant that not all requests would auto­matically be approved and standards have to be met in order to secure this endorsement.”

Taking this stand, Appana said the al­leged illegal activities were taking place.

“There is allegedly a group of individu­als who have misrepresented BCF’s ap­proval to imitate clear endorsement of the event and in so doing fraudulently represented BCF’s approval when there was none given,” he said.

“This alleged clearance include, but is not limited to organising for at least one boxer to participate in Australia.”

“A sec­ond case, has been flagged.”

“The same in­dividuals are allegedly involved in both cases and this matter has been reported to the Fiji Police.”

“We would like to advise all concerned that as the licensing authority under the Boxing Commission of Fiji (Amend­ment) Act 2016, BCF is the only entity empowered to issue overseas clearances.

“No overseas clearances will be issued or recognised unless they have BCF ap­proval.”

“Failure to take heed will lead to immediate disciplinary proceedings.”

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