IOC vows action over Brazil scandal

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The International Olympic Committee requested information from Brazilian authorities probing the vote-buying scandal surrounding the award of the 2016 Rio Games, as part of its commitment in taking action against anyone involved in new corruption allegations.

A declaration from IOC's executive board said the body's ethics commission had instructed its Brazilian lawyers to seek details of the case involving top Brazilian official Carlos Nuzman, who was arrested last week in connection with claims he ran an elaborate scam to buy votes from IOC members at the 2009 vote in Copenhagen which awarded Rio de Janeiro the Olympics.

"The IOC Ethics Commission has also requested its Brazilian lawyers to contact the Brazilian judicial authorities with regards to their latest corruption investigation into the 2009 vote for the allocation of the Olympic Games 2016, to ask for information," the IOC said. "The IOC Ethics Commission is following up on this matter. Where evidence is provided, we will act."

The IOC statement added that "it goes without saying that infringements from the past will also be addressed."

It noted that the IOC had acted swiftly to strip former IAAF President Lamine Diack of honorary IOC membership when revelations first emerged in 2015 linking him to a cash for votes scandal.

"Like any other organisation, the IOC will not be immune to infringements, but we have significantly strengthened the prevention and the sanctioning system," the statement added.

(Front pic: Brazil's Olympic Committee chief, Carlos Arthur Nuzman (C) at the Brazilian Federal Police building in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 5, 2017/AFP photo)

Source(s): AFP