IOC boss vows action on corruption allegations
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-06 06:11

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge promised on Wednesday the IOC will take any necessary action over allegations made in a BBC television report about corruption in bidding for the 2012 Games.

Two senior members of the Olympic movement were shown in a one-hour programme screened on Wednesday night indicating to undercover journalists posing as business agents they could corrupt the 2012 Games bidding process.

A total of four sports agents were also shown claiming they could secure, for a fee, nearly half the votes needed to win the Games when voting takes place next year.

Rogge, who arrived in Athens on Wednesday for the Games which open on August 13, told reporters before the programme was screened in Britain: "We don't know the details as this tape is going to be shown tonight. But, of course, the Ethics Commission will look into that and the IOC will take the necessary action."

The IOC said last week the commission would be examining claims of "inappropriate conduct" into the 2012 bidding process.

In the programme, which took a year to make, Bulgarian IOC member Ivan Slavkov and sports agent Goran Takac are shown discussing ways to secure votes for 2012.

Slavkov, accused in the Salt Lake scandal but later cleared, has said he and Takac were involved in a reverse-sting operation to catch people trying to entrap Olympic officials.

The programme also showed Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) director general Muttaleb Ahmad explaining how he could influence IOC votes.

The programme, shown on mainstream BBC 1, stirred memories of the Salt Lake City corruption scandal that shook the movement six years ago.

An investigation into Salt Lake led to 10 IOC members resigning or being expelled in connection with bribery and to a tightening of the rules governing contact between IOC members and bidding cities.

London, Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow are on the shortlist for the 2012 Games.

The host city will be named in July 2005 after a vote by IOC members.

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