The Fédération Equestre Internationale announced today, Dec. 2, that it’s completed an investigation into allegations of a horse switch for the 2012 Longines FEI World Endurance Championships (Great Britain). The FEI said no legal action can be taken “for procedural reasons and due to a lack of conclusive evidence.”

“Following receipt of the findings of the investigation last month, the FEI has now evaluated the legal and procedural aspects of the case, and it has become clear that, under the rules applicable at the time of the incident in 2012, essential deadlines were missed. Without legal proceedings being initiated within the specified timelines and through the correct channels, the FEI is unable to proceed with the case,” stated the FEI release.

“ ‘It is very disappointing that it took such a long time to come to this conclusion,” FEI Secretary General Ingmar De Vos said in the release, ‘but this thorough investigation has allowed us to identify some loopholes in our own procedures with regard to the identification of horses through microchips and documents such as FEI passports, recognition cards and duplicates. I have asked our legal department to look at our procedures to identify how we can avoid similar issues occurring in the future.’ “

The allegations involved Shiekh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum. He allegedly competed at different competitions aboard two different horses who went by the name Marmoog, The Daily Telegraph provided photographic evidence of that to the FEI; one horse competed as Marmoog is a bright chestnut with small stripe, and the other is a liver chestnut with a wide blaze.

The FEI stated it’s initiated a review of administrative processes, and that officials are looking into changes involving verification and traceability of horses’ identities. Proposed changes will be considered at the FEI General Assembly in Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11-14. The FEI is also conducting a full review of its legal system in 2015.