Bahraini firm cuts ties with mob boss
CRIME boss Daniel Kinahan’s plan to reinvent himself as a legitimate boxing promoter has been dealt a huge blow after a major sports company in Bahrain announced it has cut ties with him just a month after naming him as a special adviser.
In a statement issued through the National Communication Centre in the Middle East, the KHK Sports company said it had “discontinued engagement with Daniel Kinahan and he is no longer an adviser to KHK Sports”.
The short statement will infuriate Kinahan, who has been engaged in a high-profile campaign to gloss over his criminal activities and present himself to the world as a legitimate businessman with power in the boxing world.
Last night, Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond – the first politician to speak out against Kinahan last week – told the Irish Independent he wants to see more organisations follow the lead of KHK Sports by severing ties with him.
Last week, Kinahan was hailed a hero by heavyweight champion Tyson Fury for setting up two lucrative bouts with fellow British heavyweight Anthony Joshua.
Fury took to social media to heap praise on Kinahan, but the actions of the gang boss in trying to erase his crime links, and his involvement in one of the most murderous feuds here with the Hutch family, which has led to 18 deaths, was met with widespread criticism.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil last week the Department of Foreign Affairs had been in contact with authorities in the UAE about it.
He said he had been “taken aback” to see Fury mentioning Kinahan’s name.
It came as two major broadcasters – Sky Sports and BT
Sport – distanced themselves from the bout, dubbed the “biggest fight in British boxing history”, and Kinahan’s criminal activities because of the focus of the worldwide media.
Mr Richmond, a TD for Dublin Rathdown, said last night: “This is certainly progress but we need to see more entities in the sports and media world taking a stand against the involvement of Daniel Kinahan in any venture.
“Focus must particularly be on the planned match-up between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Are broadcasters content with his involvement? We cannot allow Daniel Kinahan’s ruthless past to be whitewashed.”
Kinahan has been identified in the High Court as a senior figure in organised crime here who controlled and managed the family organised crime group he is said to have inherited from his father Christy Kinahan Sr.
The Kinahan crime group has been found by the Special Criminal Court to carry out “execution-type murders to protect its core activities”, as well as drug trafficking and gun offences.