PATAFA says investigation on EJ Obiena prompted by discrepancy in reports, documents from Petrov and Bubka

The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) on Monday said  discrepancies in EJ Obiena's reports and documents from Ukrainian coach Vitaliy Petrov and World Athletics official Sergey Bubka prompted the investigation on the pole vaulter's liquidation.

In a statement released on Monday, PATAFA said Petrov earlier claimed that he did not receive the payment for his services to Obiena. This claim, according to PATAFA, was backed by an affidavit by Bubka, who is the president of the Ukraine Olympic Committee and a senior vice president of World Athletics.

"Instead of facing the committee, however, Obiena organized a virtual press conference to press 'the full and public withdrawal of the investigation and a full public apology from the authorities involved' in the probe," PATAFA said in a statement.

PATAFA was also asking Obiena if he had paid Petrov on time, as claimed in submitted liquidation reports. "Obiena has reported to Patafa that he had turned over Petrov's salary from May 2018 to August 2021 on time. Records, however, revealed that Obiena had settled obligations with Petrov only recently this month and not during the months that he had officially reported to have paid his coach's salary," it added.

The athletics organization said the payments made were late and were made in tranches through banks in Dubai, Germany, and Manila.

Obiena, in a press conference on Sunday, denied PATAFA's claims that it did not pay Petrov and called the charges thrown at him as "slander and defamation of character."

PATAFA also disputed this, saying that the investigation conducted was "purely internal and kept away from the public".

—With reporting by Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News