September 15 - New International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach will tomorrow begin resigning from his other positions, including as head of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) and Ghorfa, the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he has told insidethegames.

The 59-year-old was the first leader of the DOSB, which was founded in 2006 by a merger of the Deutscher Sportbund (DSB), and the Nationales Olympisches Komitee für Deutschland (NOK).

"I will resign from most of my activities, of course," he told insidethegames.

"On Monday will be the first step when I resign as President of DOSB.

"Then I will also resign from the Presidency of the Arab-German Chamber.

"I will resign from my major professional activities."

Bach had taken the decision to resign from his positions before it was announced that the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an international organisation dedicated to hunting down Nazis and bringing them to justice, had written to the United Nations to urge him to step down from Ghorfa, which they claim is an anti-Jewish organisation.

But Bach will keep one position, as head of the Michael Weinig AG Company, which is based in his hometown of Tauberbischofsheim in South West Germany, and which manufactures machines and systems for wood processing industry in Germany and internationally.

"But I would like to keep one, this is the chair of the Supervisory Board of a machine-building company in my hometown when I grew up which I have emotional links to and certain responsibility for the employees who want me to continue," he said.

"Before being elected [as President] I asked the Ethics Commission in case of election they would have any concerns if I would continue with this activity and they said, 'No, not at all' because they cannot see any kind of conflict of interests arising."

The DOSB are expected to announce tomorrow the process for replacing Bach.

Source