Sheikh Ahmed stepped aside as President of the OCA in September 2021 following a guilty verdict against him by a Geneva court in a forgery case.

In July, his younger brother Sheikh Talal Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah was elected to replace him but the IOC annulled the result and launched an investigation after claims that Sheikh Ahmed had influenced the vote.

Sheikh Ahmed, already self-suspended as an IOC member, was banned from being involved in any Olympic activity for three years as a result of his alleged role in the election.

Sheikh Talal replaced Sheikh Ahmad, who had led the OCA for 30 years until 2021, when he beat fellow Kuwaiti Husain Al-Musallam, the organisation's director general and President of World Aquatics, at the OCA General Assembly in Bangkok by 24 votes to 20.

Sheikh Ahmad, now Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, had travelled to the capital in Thailand to lobby on behalf of his brother in direct opposition to a warning not to from the IOC's chief ethics and compliance officer Pâquerette Girard Zappelli.

She had claimed that it "could be considered as an interference within the OCA activities".

After the election, the IOC sent a letter to its members, National Olympic Committees and International Federations advising them of the outcome of an emergency Executive Board meeting to discuss what had happened in Bangkok.

"To confirm the seriousness of the breach of the provisional suspension imposed on Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah, in particular regarding his involvement in the Olympic Council of Asia's activities," a letter signed by IOC director general Christophe De Kepper and obtained by insidethegames said.

"Consequently, to sanction Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah by suspending all the rights, prerogatives and functions deriving from his quality as an IOC member for a period of three years, starting from the date of the decision by the IOC Executive Board."

The letter also warned IOC members "to refrain from interacting with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah, in particular to avoid any risk of any perception of influence on any decisions regarding the Olympic Movement."

Sheikh Ahmad had stood down temporarily as an IOC member and stepped aside as President of the Association of National Olympic Committees in November 2018 when he was originally charged with forgery.

He has appealed against the decision and is currently waiting to hear the result.

According to sources close to Sheikh Ahmed, he expects to be cleared.

The IOC have already signalled that Sheikh Ahmed would be expelled if he loses, despite him playing a pivotal role in Thomas Bach getting elected as its President in 2013.  

The IOC Ethics Commission have also launched an inquiry into the OCA election where Sheikh Ahmad is widely believed to have guided the campaign from his hotel suite in Bangkok, with several countries switching their votes overnight after his arrival on a Kuwait Government jet, leading to a decisive swing behind Sheikh Talal.

It was also decided that no grants to Asian National Olympic Committees will be directed through Olympic Solidarity, the organisation that Sheikh Ahmad used to control, until "the OCA’s elections have been recognised by the IOC."

Sheikh Talal's election meant that the House of Sabah retained control of the OCA.

The OCA was founded in 1982 by his father Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who led it until 1990 when he was killed defending Dasman Palace on the first day of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Sheikh Ahmad had succeeded him the following year and had led the organisation until he was forced to step down and was temporarily replaced by India's Randhir Singh. 

Singh stepped in again at the request of the IOC following the dissolution of the July election and is currently leading the OCA at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. 

It is set to be several months before the case is heard at the CAS and even longer before a verdict is delivered.