Elias Kiptum Maindi, a retired athlete, and Paul Kibet Simbolei, a coach, were charged by the Kenyan prosecution in June 2021 with 12 counts of forgery and 1 count for conspiracy. The charges against John Katio Maluni were annulled after he died in a road accident.
Maindi, Simbolei and Maluni alleged that Kenyan athletes were involved in a doping scheme. Between 2019 and 2020 they attempted to present a picture that there was a government sponsored doping scheme to facilitate that Kenyan athletes could use doping.
For this purpose they provided to European media falsified documents. These documents were purportedly signed by officials from the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) and Athletics Kenya (AK).
Elias Kiptum Maindi denied the charges and claimed that he was a whistleblower. He asserted that the deceased John Katio Maluni was responsible for this conspiracy.
Paul Kibet Simbolei showed no remorse and argued that he was misled by Maindi into this crime. He believed that he was collecting information for research.
Consequently the Kenya Magistrate's Court decided on 9 April 2024 to convict Elias Kiptum Maindi for 18 months. Paul Kibet Simbolei was found guilty and convicted for 2 years. He was released because he had already been detained for almost 3 years since April 2021.
