Costa Rica's Martin Faba, who has taken over as interim President, has revealed that in a message sent to National Federations seen by insidethegames that Sheikh Talal has retained his position because he has not stepped down as head of the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF).

A proposal to change the IBF statues at an Extraordinary General Meeting in Lausanne on Tuesday (May 24), which would have meant cutting the size of the IBF Executive Committee from 12 to eight voting members, was defeated when only two Member Federations voted for them.

"Our previous President resigned prior to the General Meeting due to a series of information that came to light and that could not be analysed at the [Executive] Committee because it was not possible to have the quorum to be able to meet officially," Faba, previously IBF's 1st vice-president, wrote.

"An investigation is on the way.

"At the General Meeting, approval was not obtained to modify articles of the statutes as proposed.

"Some of the proposed articles, removed the zone Presidents, American, African, Asian, European and Oceania from the Committee.

"This part of the proposal was not accepted by the General Meeting as it is fact that no one else than such President knows better the zone and the needs to work for at the IBF.

"This is correctly explained by the previous paragraph and should answer those who wonder why the former President of IBF, who at the same time is President of the Asian zone, did not resigned from it and continues as a member of the Board of the world federation."

The claims against a senior member of the IBF include allegations that money amounting to more than $10 million (£8 million/€9.5 million) was transferred last year from the IBF and ABF to a personal account.

At the time, it has been reported that bills amounting to several hundreds of thousands of dollars were left unpaid by the IBF. 

Officials from the International Federation have not been able to contact Sheikh Talal, a member of Kuwait’s ruling royal family and who was elected as IBF President in 2015, to speak to him about the claims.

Faba admitted that the IBF do not have the mechanism within their rules to deal with such a situation or suspend Sheikh Talal.

"With the previous President we have no communication whatsoever and do not know what his decision regarding the Asian zone and his right is to be at IBF Committee," Faba wrote.

"Our statutes do not contemplate the suspension or expulsion of any director, and although it may be a failure in the document, we cannot go beyond what the law allows us to do.

"Now, we must take care of the present and work for the future of our organization, we must start by completing the process and proper registration of the Board that will end the period for which it was elected, make a thorough review of the financial situation of the institution, develop strategies to implement good governance that avoids the problems that have us in the situation experienced in over the past years, regain trust in our members, sponsors and stakeholder and our sport in general."

The International Olympic Committee Ethics Commission have been contacted about the allegations.

The scandal is set to damage bowling’s bid to be included on the Olympic programme.

Faba promised Member Federations that they would not give up on their campaign.

"The task is one of total reconstruction and I hope to be able to lead the group of experienced people around us, who have the knowledge and experience to show that we can be a true organization whose purpose is to give our athletes the opportunity to feel proud of it, to continue pursuing our Olympic dream and to grow in the eyes of the world with transparency and respect for the ideals of Olympism and good people," he wrote.

"We ask for time to be able to fulfil the task, results cannot be obtained without that tenacious work, with commitment to our art and acting immediately to clarify all the doubts that exist today."

insidethegames has contacted Sheikh Talal for a comment.