Background:
Afghan National Cycling Federation was accused by the squad for selling cycles, which were purchased for the members of the team, to the team.

On 20140813, cyclists of the team accused Mohammad Sadiq Sadiqqi, the head of the cycling federation, for selling bikes that were budgeted for the members to them again for profit.

Hashmatullah Barakzai, a cyclist for the team, said he "purchased a cycle from the head of the federation for $200." Another cyclist, Ali Asghar Jaffari added that he was sold a bicycle for 40,000 AFS.

"I earned that money through hard work and labor," he said appalled. "The head sold me the bike in exchange for money."

Head of the Department of Sports and Physical Education, Mohammad Zarifuddin Jalal, has confirmed the accusations stating that the case would be referred to the attorney general's office.

"In recent years, the Department of Sports and Physical Education has provided a total amount of 500,000 AFS to the cycling federation to purchase equipments for the cyclists," Jalal explained. "However, our investigations confirm that the equipment was given to them in exchange for money."

Sadiqqi calls the allegations "baseless."

"I completely reject the allegations because I have not sold any bicycles to anyone," he asserted. "I only took $200 from Hashmatullah Barakzai so that he would focus on the maintenance of the bicycle."

Recently, in a similar case of corruption and fraud occurring in the sport sector of Afghanistan, officials of the chess, taekwondo and wushu federations were also accused of embezzlements and scam.

Afghanistan’s National Women’s Cycling team ended its operations when their longtime coach and the head of the federation, Haji Abdul Sediq Seddiqi, was implicated in the theft of funds. The Afghanistan National Olympic Committee fired Seddiqi, who had married and divorced three of the girls he was coaching. The women cyclists ended up losing their team and sponsors, but Seddiqi was never prosecuted for corruption or inappropriate conduct with athletes he was coaching.(20190207)