Out of our hands
IOC panel makes recommendations
Posted: Monday March 01, 1999 03:24 PM
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Rogge and his panel have sent their finding to Juan Antonio Samaranch and the IOC. AP |
LONDON (AP) -- A special IOC panel has issued recommendations on whether to impose sanctions against the 13 members still under investigation in the Salt Lake City scandal, a commission member said Monday.
Jacques Rogge, a member of the six-man inquiry panel which met in Switzerland over the weekend, said the group had sent its findings to International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch and the executive board.
"There is a recommendation that was given to the president to be forwarded to members of the executive board," Rogge said by telephone from Belgium.
Rogge said he didn't know when the board would convene to act on the panel's report.
"It's in the hands of the president," he said. "I guess he will contact the members of the executive board."
Officials have indicated the board could convene by conference call this week to deal with the final cases of alleged misconduct stemming from Salt Lake's winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
The inquiry commission can recommend that members be expelled, exonerated or warned. If accepted by the board, the proposals will go to the full IOC session at a special general assembly March 17-18.
Nine IOC members have already resigned or been ousted in connection with cash payments, scholarships, free medical care and other inducements offered by Salt Lake.
Some officials said the board needs to act swiftly to exonerate any delegates found innocent of wrongdoing and to give those facing expulsion time to prepare their defense for the session.
The head of the inquiry panel, IOC vice president Dick Pound, indicated Sunday that the work was not completed and said he hoped the inquiry panel would wrap up the investigation over the next few days.
"We've got to complete the stuff we're working on, the report, sometime in the next week," said Pound, who admitted feeling pressure to quickly conclude the probe. "We've got to let these folks know what's going on before the next session.
"We want to stop the bleeding by March 17," he said. "Death by 1,000 cuts isn't much fun."
After nine members resigned or were suspended in January in the first round of Pound's inquiry, the weekend meeting focused on three that remained under investigation and 10 new names that appeared in the Salt Lake report.
Phil Coles of Australia, Ashwini Kumar of India and Agustin Arroyo of Ecuador traveled to IOC headquarters to defend themselves in person. Tight security prevented reporters from discovering if others were present and Pound declined to say how many had shown up.
One of the higher profile cases was that of Kim Un-yong, the powerful executive board member from South Korea and president of the confederation of Olympic sports bodies. He is accused of using his influence to get lucrative jobs in television and entertainment for his children.
Coles, one of the most influential sports officials involved in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was with the commission for about one hour but refused to comment.
The Australian was linked with lavish travel and vacations allegedly paid for by Salt Lake City bidders and has threatened legal action to clear his name.
In Australia, IOC executive board member Kevan Gosper said he was surprised at the extent of the allegations against Coles but did not think he would face expulsion.
Gosper did, however, call on Coles to explain his actions to the Australian public.
"Phil will have to address the criticisms being aimed at him in Australia," Gosper said.
The Salt Lake report alleged that Kumar was given a plane ticket to travel to the IOC meeting in Budapest that awarded the 2002 Winter Games to the Utah resort.
"I didn't receive any ticket," said Kumar. He said that while the ticket receipt in the Salt Lake report bore the name Kumar, the first name was different.
Arroyo, a 30-year member of the IOC, said he'd chosen to plead his case in person because he was "not at all satisfied" with the committee's decision to suspend him and recommend his expulsion after the first phase of the investigation in January.
"There was a lot of wrong information from Salt Lake City. I don't like to use the word lie ... I just say it's not true," said the 75-year-old IOC veteran.
Arroyo was accused of accepting US$19,000 in payments from Salt Lake bidders for himself and a family member, in addition to generous travel expenses for visits.
The panel also was expected to make a preliminary examination of files from about a dozen cities that bid for the Olympics between 1996 and 2004. The IOC had asked the cities to give details of any wrongdoing by IOC members during their bids.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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