Olympia 2016: Alleged purchase of votes for Rio: Bach promises enlightenment

IOC President Thomas Bach has reacted to the corruption scandal surrounding the award of the 2016 Olympic Games to Rio,”The IOC is very concerned about the integrity of our organization.That is why we take this case seriously and monitor it closely,”Bach said in the run-up to the executive meeting and the IOC session in Lima/Peru.

In connection with the suspicion of bribery of IOC members before the 2009 elections in Copenhagen, Bach referred to the cooperation with the French Public Prosecutor’s Office, with which the ring organisation has been cooperating for more than a year, and to the work of the in-house ethics committee.The IOC will “take all appropriate measures and sanctions”, Bach explained.

On Tuesday, the Brazilian federal police had seized evidence at a major raid in Rio de Janeiro at the home of OK chief Carlos Arthur Nuzman and at the Comite Rio 2016 headquarters.The President of the National Olympic Committee was also summoned for questioning.

Around 70 officers were deployed to execute two arrest warrants and conduct a total of eleven house searches.Above all, the arrest of entrepreneur Arthur Soares, who is based in Miami, Florida, and his former business partner Eliane Calvacante are intended to shed light on the dark issues surrounding corruption, money laundering and the formation of a criminal organisation.

Operation Unfair Play is based on information provided by the French judicial authorities.As the newspaper Le Monde reported at the beginning of March, a few days before Rio’s election in October 2009, IOC members with voting rights had received bribes from Soares.

Rio had left the country on 2.October 2009, the contract for organizing the 31.Olympic Summer Games.In the first round, the Brazilians were still in second place behind Madrid (28) with 26 votes, but in the following two rounds the Spanish capital and at the end of Japan’s metropolis Tokyo stood out with 66:32 votes.Previously, the highly traded U. S. competitor Chicago had dropped out at the start.