Tax forms offer no answers
SLOC tax filings show no record of questioned scholarship fund
Posted: Thursday December 17, 1998 11:12 AM
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SLOC president Frank Joklik will not be involved in the investigation AP |
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- Tax forms filed by Salt Lake's Olympic
organizers do not include entries for the scholarship program that
sparked charges of widespread corruption in the Olympic movement.
Salt Lake Organizing Committee officials have said $400,000
in scholarships were paid to 13 students, including six relatives
of International Olympic Committee members. The fund was run by the
Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee, the group that secured the 2002
Winter Olympics.
The documents - Form 990s that nonprofit public charities must
file with the Internal Revenue Service - obtained by KUER radio,
provide the only peek into the financing of Salt Lake's Olympic
pursuit because the $13 million spent on the bid was private
money.
In each fiscal year between 1991 to 1997, the question, "Does
the organization make grants for scholarships, fellowships, student
loans, etc.," is answered "No," and lines used to report grants
or assistance to individuals are left blank.
Between fiscal years 1992 and 1994, the bid committee reported
expenses for a National Olympic Committee program. SLOC officials
have said the scholarship program went through the NOCs.
"It certainly has raised a question and we're looking at the
issue," said Kelly Flint, SLOC's senior vice president for legal
affairs and commerce. "We've referred it to our special tax
counsel to look at it."
Other dealings between Salt Lake's Olympic organizers and IOC
members continue to pile up.
On Wednesday, Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini said through
a spokesman that the son of an IOC member was given an internship
in city government sometime in the mayor's first term, between 1992
and 1996.
"He worked here for six months," said Corradni's spokesman,
Ken Connaughton. "It was not (the mayor's) initiative."
Connaughton said the mayor believed the intern worked for the
city's director of management services.
Connaughton also said the mayor had a vague recollection of a
briefing on a National Olympic Committee assistance program when
she joined the Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee shortly after taking
office in 1991.
Meantime, Tom Welch, who spearheaded Salt Lake's Olympic bid,
agreed Wednesday to help in an investigation of bribery allegations
and encouraged SLOC to "deal with this in a prompt and open way."
Nolan Karras, who represents Utah Governor Mike Leavitt on the
organizing committee, said that, to ensure public confidence, SLOC
president, Frank Joklik, and senior vice president, Dave Johnson,
must not be involved in SLOC's inquiry. Both men were high-ranking
members of the bid committee.
"If we're going to recover from this, there can't even be the
appearance that Frank or Dave are controlling this," Karras said.
Joklik has maintained the scholarship fund was used for
humanitarian purposes and claimed little knowledge of its
operation, but apologized last week for the embarrassment it has
caused.
Johnson has refused to talk to reporters. He and Welch
controlled the fund and headed the bid's IOC lobbying.
Welch resigned under pressure two years ago amid allegations of
spouse abuse. He remains on SLOC retainer as a $10,000-a-month
consultant.
In an interview with The Associated Press two weeks ago, Welch
said scholarship funds like Salt Lake's were common.
During a meeting Friday, the SLOC board of trustees will set the
parameters of an independent investigation by a five-member ethics
committee made up of two university professors, a former Olympic
athlete, a former U.S. Attorney and a retired chief justice of the
Utah Supreme Court.
One of the first orders of business, said board member Randy
Dryer, will be to establish what role Joklik should play in
establishing the committee's responsibilities. Karras believes
Joklik should remove himself from the process and let SLOC chairman
Robert Garff run the show.
While few SLOC members were speaking openly about the fallout
from the scandal, several privately questioned whether Johnson's
intimate involvement for more than a decade in Utah's pursuit of
the Olympics can survive the ethics panel's scrutiny.
In 1988, Johnson's involvement in the now-defunct Utah Sports
Foundation triggered a formal investigation by the Utah Legislature
and the state attorney general into allegations of double-billing.
He was exonerated.
Karras hopes Joklik and Johnson will survive in their posts. But
he added it's clear someone on the bid committee "crossed the
line. Just how far is yet to be seen," he said. "But I'm
indignant about it.
"Do I worry about losing Frank or Dave? Yes," he said. "It
would be a travesty to lose either of them. But if it ends up that
peoples' hands are so dirty they can't stay, then we'll have to
deal with it."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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