He had to accept luxury watches as gifts, use the services of prostitutes, participate in hunting trips in Russia and drive a borrowed BMW X5 limousine. All this to protect the interests of Russian biathlon, especially in the concealment of illegal doping. Now 77, Norwegian Anders Besseberg, former president of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) for many years, is accused of serious corruption. He faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Besseberg led the IBU from 1993 to 2018. Due to the ongoing investigation, he resigned from this position. He is now accused of regularly accepting financial benefits in 2009-2018, likely from Russian officials. He was charged by the Norwegian economic police Økokrim.

– We have sufficient and concrete evidence that Besseberg has regularly accepted financial benefits for ten years. Our investigations have been going on for five years and now the case is going to go to court, prosecutor Marianne Djupesland told Norwegian TV camera NRK.

The Norwegian media, on the other hand, reproach him in exchange for e.g. hide doping among Russian athletes. The VG newspaper claims that there have been at least 65 such cases since 2011. Another reason for the corruption was to influence the granting of the right to host the 2021 Biathlon World Championships to the Russian city of Tyumen.

Besseberg denied the allegations and said he never took a bribe or tried to influence the IBU’s anti-doping efforts. His lawyer Christian Hjort points out that the indictment ultimately did not include allegations of influencing doping test results or accepting large sums of money (prosecutors accuse him of agreeing to other financial benefits). The investigation involved interviewing a large number of people in many countries, and the Norwegian authorities were assisted by Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic and Liechtenstein.

The maximum penalty for flagrant bribery in Norway is a 10-year prison term. The IBU federation has welcomed the developments around Anders Besseberg.