Probe into president's comments Stood down: Barclay Nettlefold. Photo: Rohan Thomson Swimming Australia has stood down its president, Barclay Nettlefold, after a second allegation was revealed against the official who had been the face of the sport's efforts to rebuild its image after last year's disastrous Olympic Games. Board member Nicole Livingstone said on Saturday that Nettlefold had been stood down "pending an independent investigation into allegations of inappropriate comments made to staff." "The comments are under review at the moment so we want to give the due process a chance to take place," Livingstone said. I don't want to go into detail about the new complaints that have come to light today to the Australian swimming board ... it's necessary that we have an independent review of these new allegations. It's got nothing to do with gender. I'm not going to go into whether it's a woman or a man. It is an allegation of inappropriate comments to staff and we'll leave it at that as Swimming Australia goes through this independent review and investigation. Nettlefold became board president in the fallout after the team's disappointing results in London and took a firm hand in dealing with a series of controversies that included the Stilnox bonding session of the men's 4x100 metres freestyle relay team and the resignation of head coach Leigh Nugent. Newly appointed chief executive Mark Anderson said while details would not be revealed, the allegations were "considered ... serious enough to investigate." But Anderson said the complaints did not involve any allegation of physical intimidation. "It's certainly spoken comments and it relates only to that," Anderson said. News Ltd reported on Saturday that the first incident occurred in a lift at the Australian championships in Adelaide last month and that only Nettlefold and the person who made the complaint were present. The board, which had a emergency telephone hook-up, has yet to decide who will lead the investigation but confirmed it would be a person from outside the organisation. The allegations are a substantial blow to swimming, which has lurched from one public relations disaster to another since the lead-up to London last year. But the sport was confident of a more positive outlook with the revamping of its management and encouraging results at last month's national titles, which indicated the team could expect improved performances at the world championships in July in Barcelona. Apart from the Stilnox scandal, there were also stories of friction between team members and resentment at the way members of the 4x100 freestyle team were favoured. Relay team member Matt Targett was also reprimanded after Australia's most successful swimmer in London, Alicia Coutts, made an allegation of inappropriate behaviour against him at an event in Perth in January. Nettlefold had maintained through the controversies that the sport, whose culture and pre-Olympics management had been heavily criticised in two independent reviews, was on the path to repairing itself. Livingstone said she hoped that the new controversies would not detract "from the good work that's been done by not only the board but also our great administration." "I think we made great steps since the Olympic games ... the thing that we've been trying to work on is having a good culture and good leadership and that is something I believe we have put the right steps in place with the appointment of a new CEO [Anderson] and also Michael Scott as our high-performance director," she said.