Scandal spreads to Sydney
Bid official offered $35,000 to two IOC members
Posted: Friday January 22, 1999 09:50 PM
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John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee and a leader of the 2000 Sydney bid, offered large payments in exchange for the games Adam Pretty/Allsport |
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- The Olympic corruption scandal grew
significantly Friday when an Australian official revealed he had
offered $35,000 in inducements to two African IOC members the
night before Sydney was awarded the 2000 Summer Games.
Australia's senior IOC member, who said he was not involved in
the offer, acknowledged that the inducement could be seen as a bribe
and could prompt demands for Sydney to be stripped of the games.
The latest development in the mushrooming corruption crisis came
on the same day that a Libyan delegate became the second IOC member
to resign in connection with vote-buying charges stemming from Salt
Lake City's selection as host of the 2002 Winter Games.
Bashir Mohamed Attarabulsi submitted his resignation in person
to IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, one day before a special
IOC commission concludes its inquiry into the Salt Lake scandal.
Samaranch did not rule out other resignations this weekend. He
said seven other IOC members face possible expulsion in the Salt
Lake case.
Samaranch learned of more damaging news later in the day from
Sydney.
John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee and a
leader of the 2000 Sydney bid, said he had offered the $35,000
inducements to the national Olympic committees of Kenya and Uganda.
The offer was made to IOC members Charles Mukora of Kenya and
Maj. Gen. Francis Nyangweso of Uganda at a dinner in Monte Carlo,
Monaco, on Sept. 22, 1993, the night before Sydney beat Beijing by
two votes for the right to stage the 2000 games.
"I thought it was necessary for us to show our commitment to
those NOC's with a view to winning those votes," Coates was quoted
as saying in Saturday's editions of the Sydney Morning Herald. "My
view was it might encourage them to consider their votes fo
Sydney."
Sydney won 45-43 on the final ballot.
Coates denied the money was a bribe and said it would go towards
helping sport in Kenya and Uganda.
Details of the offer were contained in a package of previously
confidential Sydney bid documents released Friday by Coates.
The documents also disclosed that Coates had written to Mukora
and Nyangweso a month before the vote, offering to put them up at
Sydney's expense at the luxury Dorchester Hotel in London on their
way to Monaco.
Kevan Gosper, an IOC executive board member from Australia, said
the inducements offered by Coates went "beyond good will."
"It seems that John's decision was intended to influence the
IOC members' thinking," Gosper told The Associated Press. "The
perception may not match John's intention, the event having taken
place the night before the vote.
"I can see this being viewed as questionable conduct. The
perception will be quite damaging to Sydney. It's a very serious
revelation. I think a lot of people will be destabilized."
Gosper, a former head of the Australian Olympic Committee, was a
senior official in the Sydney bid. But he said he was unaware of
the offers made by Coates until a journalist called him Friday.
Gosper said he immediately brought the matter to Samaranch's
attention. He described Samaranch's reaction as "one of serious
concern."
Gosper said the revelations were serious enough to raise the
issue of whether Sydney should keep the games.
"I can't rule it out that some may call for the games not to
proceed in Sydney," he said, indicating that even some IOC
officials may feel that way.
"I think the Chinese reaction will be important. There were
really only two cities in the race."
Gosper said he would urge the IOC this weekend to endorse the
1993 vote awarding the games to Sydney.
He also called for all of Sydney's documents to be made public
and said the IOC should consider opening a full-scale inquiry into
the city's bid.
Gosper didn't rule out that Coates would resign over the matter.
He said he had not spoken to Coates directly, but defended him as
an "extremely competent" and "first rate" Olympic chief.
Earlier, Attarabulsi, 61, an IOC member since 1977, stepped down
because of revelations that his son had received college
scholarships at Utah schools from Salt Lake City boosters.
"I accepted his resignation and I thanked him for his 22 years
as a member of the IOC, what he did for sport in his country and
for us," Samaranch said in a telephone interview. "He's a good
man. He did (make) a mistake."
Attarabulsi's son, Suhel, has said he received tuition at BYU
and other Utah schools, plus $700 a month for expenses.
Finland's Pirjo Haeggman became the first IOC casualty of the
scandal when she resigned Tuesday. She was implicated because her
former husband got jobs through Olympic bidding committees from
Salt Lake City and Toronto.
IOC director general Francois Carrard said both Attarabulsi and
Haeggman resigned "in the higher interest of the Olympic
movement."
Samaranch said 13 members were implicated in the IOC's
investigation into cash payments, college scholarships, free
medical treatment, lavish gifts and other inducements related to
Salt Lake's winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
With two resignations now in hand, Samaranch said seven other
IOC members face possible expulsion from the committee unless they
step down.
Samaranch said he did not know what, if any, action would be
taken against four other members cited for minor violations.
The six-member inquiry panel, headed by IOC vice president Dick
Pound, has found that the payments and gifts to members from Salt
Lake City boosters totaled almost $800,000, with some members
receiving more than $100,000 each.
Carrard said Pound's report has not yet been completed. He said
the commission will begin meeting late Friday and then reconvene
for most of Saturday.
Some of the implicated members are expected to defend themselves
in person before Pound's commission Saturday. On Sunday, the IOC
executive board will recommend expulsions of members and propose
ways of overhauling the entire Olympic bidding and selection
process.
Samaranch has called a special IOC assembly for March 17-18 to
vote on expulsions and ratify the new site-selection procedures.
Members who choose not to resign will be suspended pending a
vote of expulsion by the full assembly, where a two-thirds majority
vote is required.
Samaranch confirmed the IOC was ready to investigate any
documented allegations of corruption during other Olympic bid
campaigns.
"We have on the table some facts regarding some other cities
and will investigate," Samaranch said. "The Pound commission is
only for Salt Lake City, but we can appoint another commission with
the same powers, maybe with the same people. But we have to act on
facts and not rumors."
Samaranch said his priority is to restore "the prestige" of
the IOC.
'"What we lost during these weeks, we have to get back," he
said. "We have to work hard. Myself, I will do my best."
Samaranch, who has been president since 1980, reiterated he has no
intention of resigning, despite calls from outside the IOC for him
to step down to take responsibility for misconduct that took place
under his leadership.
"In this moment, I have to be at the head of the International
Olympic Committee more than ever," Samaranch said. "I have to try
to help to solve these problems."
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