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New Olympics Corruption Skeleton Unearthed
Sports: 4 August 2004, Wednesday The suspicions of corruption in the failed candidacy of Sweden for the Olympic Games 2004, have come back to the limelight, as the IOC seems to plunge into another major corruption scandal after the games in Salt Lake City. A publication by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reminds about an attempt to bribe the International Olympic Committee, once it had shown preference for the Athens' candidacy. Won't someone please think of the athletes! [/Mrs. Lovejoy] Based on solid documentary and telephone-bugging evidence the newspaper said that, prior to Greece's win, Swedish candidacy organization committee gave USD 60,000 to a consultant, who then took the plane to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Only to buy watches and chocolate, mind you. For six months the Swedish paid of a total of USD 175,000 to Hungarian agent - Gabor Komyathy - for a presumed payment of favours. According to the daily, Komyathy who had worked for the candidacies of Atlanta and Sydney was committed to distribute money, favours and gifts to other people or directly to IOC members who would give their vote for Stockholm. So, why is this Komyathy character still permitted any contact with the IOC committee members? The Public Prosecutors' Office opened an investigation in 2000 to find out the addressee of the money that Olof Stenhammar, president of the candidacy committee, drew from its own bank account to give to a consultant. New evidence delivered by "Dagens Nyheter" showed that Swedish candidacy contacted with three other intermediary agents, with the Kenyan Charles Mukora, IOC member who resigned over a corruption case, and with high-positioned directors at the Olympic Federation of Asian Countries with similar intentions. A Royal Exchequer official, Christer van der Kwast, told the daily that "the case seems a criminal conspiracy". Does anyone else get the feeling that the IOC and United Crusade both read from the same playbook? What is it that prevents a clean sweep of all fiduciary officers after exposure of such misconduct? Sweden's peccadillo is merely the iceberg's tip in all of this. There are already allegations surfacing about the 2005 selection process for the 2012 games. Posted by: Zenster 2004-08-05 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=39810 |