No evidence of bribery
Sydney investigation finds breaches of IOC rules
Posted: Monday March 15, 1999 11:41 PM
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Independent auditor Tom Sheridan said that "red carpet treatment" for IOC members was enshrined in IOC guidelines. AP |
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Ireland's Kevin O'Flanagan and Denmark's Niels Holst-Sorensen became the latest International Olympic Committee (IOC) members to be accused of breaking its rules, when a report into Sydney's successful bid for the 2000 Games was released Monday.
Independent auditor Tom Sheridan found Sydney guilty of "numerous breaches" of guidelines but found no evidence of corruption or bribery.
He criticized the IOC's rules governing bids, saying they were "unworkable and have fallen into disrepute and are almost completely ignored by candidate cities."
Although Sheridan outlined the lavish hospitality and gift giving that won Sydney the bid, organizing committee (SOCOG) president Michael Knight said the report showed there was "no comparison between what occurred in Salt Lake City and what Sydney did to win the 2000 Games."
Nine IOC members have resigned or been expelled in the wake of the inquiry into Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Games and the bribery scandal has seen action taken against 20 members.
Sheridan said Holst-Sorensen and his wife traveled from Copenhagen to Paris to watch the 1993 French Open tennis final at the invitation of Australian IOC official and bid team member Phil Coles. Sydney's bid company paid for their air travel and "associated expenses".
Holst-Sorensen said Monday that Coles gave the trip to him but he did not believe it broke IOC regulations.
"Yes it is correct that I received a free trip," Holst-Sorensen told The AP in Denmark. He said he informed Sheridan's inquiry but had not spoken about the matter to the IOC.
The Sydney bid company also paid for O'Flanagan and his brother to travel from Dublin to London for the 1992 Wimbledon tennis final. Sydney paid their air travel, accommodation, theater tickets and other costs.
"In my view, these trips are apparent breaches of the guideline which prohibits the giving of benefits ... in excess of a total of US$200," Sheridan said in the report.
Coles, named in the Salt Lake City ethics inquiry for treating site visits like vacations, was recommended for a severe censure by the IOC last week.
There were several other IOC delegates named in the Sydney investigation, but their cases had been documented previously.
Swaziland member David Sibandze, who resigned after being named in the Salt Lake City inquiry, was named in the Sydney report after his daughter Nomsa received about A$7,000 (US$4,400) to study in Australia. Sibanze's son Sibo was given a job with Salt Lake City's Economic Development Office.
Sydney officials also played a role in the immigration to Australia of the daughter and son-in-law of Romanian IOC member Alexandru Siperco, arranged a job interview for the son of Tunisian delegate Mohamed Mzali, found work for the son of Finnish delegate Peter Tallberg and sought to arrange work for a relative of Algeria's Mohamed Zerguini.
Sheridan said Sydney's breaches of the IOC guidelines included the value of gifts given to IOC delegates, the duration of visits, the number of overseas trips made by Sydney bid members to lobby IOC officials and assistance in finding jobs for delegates' families.
He said he also was concerned by the Australian Olympic Committee's involvement in African training schemes.
AOC president John Coates has admitted paying about US$35,000 each to delegates from Kenya and Uganda on the night beforethe 1993 decision to award Sydney the games.
Those payments were part of almost US$1.3 million spent on 11 African National Olympic Committee and which may have come in part from public money.
Sheridan said the timing of agreements with the African NOCs indicated "they were entered into with the intention of influencing the votes of the IOC members."
But he concluded there was no breach of IOC guidelines because the arrangements did not involve the giving of benefits to IOC members or their families.
Knight and the SOCOG board ordered the inquiry by the former state auditor general following the news from Salt Lake's inquiry.
"Mr. Sheridan and his team compiled a warts and all report, I'm glad there weren't too many warts," Knight said.
Sheridan said that "red carpet treatment" for IOC members was enshrined in IOC guidelines and if the Sydney bidders didn't deliver, "they may not have necessarily achieved that objective," of winning the Games.
Sheridan also detailed the names of delegates who stayed longer than the guidelines allow for visits to a bidding country, or for side trips.
Twelve IOC members overstayed or took side trips, including visits to the northern Australian tropical resort town of Port Douglas, Paris, Singapore and Bangkok. They were usually accompanied by Coles, the report said.
But SOCOG board member Nick Greiner said the bid team encouraged IOC delegates to take side trips, knowing they were outside the guidelines, to break up the long journey to and from Australia.
"The idea that we would give them the boot on day five if they wanted to stay for day six is ridiculous," Greiner said.
"It was clearly the case that the guidelines were somewhere between a dead letter and a nonsense and the bid cities treated them that way."
Sheridan had access to more than 3,000 files but added 221 had been destroyed or were missing.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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