IOC gets down to business

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Jan 24: The International Olympic Committee's Chateau de Vidy headquarters was turned into a fortress here on Saturday as the inquiry into the worst scandal in the movement's history got underway, reports AFP.

Tight security was in place around the building on the banks of Lake Geneva to keep away outsiders as accused IOC members began arriving to defend themselves against corruption charges before a six-man investigative commission.

The suspected guilty members swept up in limousines with tinted glass and were driven straight into the Chateaus' garage, where they were able to get out without being photographed.

The IOC refused to say who had turned up to defend themselves, instead putting up a wall of silence around the hearing. All officials would say was that six members appeared before the inquiry.

Senior IOC official Kevan Gosper confirmed that the commission would work late into the night to complete their findings and make recommendations, among the recommendations will be a new system to select host cities.

So far, 13 members have become embroiled in the Salt Lake City scandal and at least five of them are expected to be expelled come today - when the final report is delivered to the IOC's executive board. Two of the 13 have already resigned: Finnish IOC member Pirjo Haeggman and Bashir Mohamed Attarabulsi of Libya.

But even as the investigative commission was taking evidence, the tales of bribery and corruption had spread well beyond Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

Nagano, who hosted the 1998 Winter Games, and Sydney, who host next year's Summer Games, have been caught up in the vote-buying scandal.

So, too, have Amsterdam, who failed to land the 1992 Games-losing to Barcelona.

The president of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), John Coates, has admitted offering two African IOC members big cash inducements on the eve of the 1993 vote to help Sydney win the 2000 Olympics.

Coates said it was decided to make the payments to the African nations because he could feel Sydney's chances of hosting the games slipping away.

"It is a contest that allows support to be given to National Olympic Committees (NOC) and allows NOCs to leverage that support for their vote," said Coates.

"We knew that and went ready to accommodate that. I wasn't going to die wondering why we didn't win. What we did is within the guidelines."

A senior Nagano official admitted earlier this week that he had burned files relating to the Japanese city's bid after being asked by IOC members to keep the details secret.

Amsterdam officials have confirmed spending seven million dollars to woo IOC members - offering them diamonds and trips to the city's most exclusive brothels.

As the scope of the scandal widens, senior IOC members admit this weekend's expulsions could just be the start.

Vice-President Dick Pound, who heads the committee investigating the 13 members, said this week that that influence-peddling within the Olympic movement goes back to the early 1980s.

The affair has stunned the 78-year-old IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who critics accuse of failing to act when informed about corruption amongst members.

But the former Spanish diplomat, who took over the presidency in 1980, insists that he has always wanted to reform the IOC.

"I've tried many times to fix the problems but I couldn't. I couldn't do all this five years ago, 10 years ago. I wanted to, but the IOC members wouldn't give me the votes I needed to change the system. This could be the right moment to fix the IOC," he said.

But Samaranch faces an uphill task.

IOC members are already plotting to block plans to reform the selection process. At present, all of the movement's 114 members vote to decide the winning city. Samaranch wants to reduce it to a small select group.

But members are bitterly opposed and it will take a two thirds majority to change the rule when the IOC meet in March.

"It will never get past. Take the vote away from us and we lose our power," complained one IOC member.

This weekend's expulsions risk being only the start of a furious internal battle that threatens to split the IOC not the end, as senior officials would hope.