In response, Kuwait filed a lawsuit in January in local courts against 14 board members of its Olympic committee seeking $1.3 billion. That lawsuit accused the members of corrupting the Olympic movement in Kuwait and interfering in sports affairs. The country was reinstated in 2012 ahead of the London Games after Kuwait's ruler, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, pledged autonomy for the Olympic committee and promised new legislation for institutions governing sports. The comments by Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman al-Homoud Al Sabah, carried by the state-run Kuwait News Agency, comes after the IOC suspended the Kuwaiti Olympic body in October on grounds of government interference in sports. This new lawsuit will further widen the rift between the Kuwait government and the IOC, making lifting the suspension before the Rio games even less likely.

Source: New Zealand Herald June 23, 2016 09:56 UTC