IOC Says Rio Contract Audits "Not Necessary"

(ATR) The IOC’s watchdog chief for Rio 2016 says there is no need for a further audit of Olympic venues, despite bribery allegations facing the president of Olympic Village and IBC constructor Odebrecht.

When quizzed by reporters in Lausanne, IOC coordination commission chair Nawal El Moutawakel denied an additional audit was necessary. "No. The contract was with the city."

Marcelo Odebrecht, head of the Brazilian multinational, is currently in jail facing corruption charges linked to the Petrobras scandal. His company also built the opening stadium for the 2014 World Cup in Sao Paulo.

El Moutawakel told reporters that Rio mayor Eduardo Paes on Wednesday explained, via video link, Brazil’s poilital and economic problems that threaten to derail the final months of preparations for the Rio Games.

She said the IOC was working hand in hand with Paes, who she described as a "key person in the delivery of the Olympics"

Late last month authorities launched an investigation into whether the four companies responsible for Olympic development projects won their contracts from the Petrobras scheme.

Odebrecht, OAS SA, Andrade Gutierrez SA, Queiroz Galvão SA, and Carioca Christiani-Nielsen Engenharia SA, are the five companies that won the most contracts for the Olympic developments. Executives from three of those companies have been jailed on corruption charges while the former chief of OAS was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his connection to the Petrobras scandal.

Rio de Janeiro City Hall is in charge of overseeing most of the contracts for Olympic venues, But Mayor Eduardo Paes has insisted Operation Lava Jato - "car wash" - would not touch Olympic construction.

"There's no scandal, no complaint of overpricing, the works are in the price, and most of the resources come from private money," Paes has said.

Throughout the construction process Rio authorities have touted a Public-Private Partnership, which would drive down the use of public money in Olympic construction.

This week the leader of the Worker’s Party in the Brazilian senate was charged with obstructing the criminal investigation into Petrobras, as the corruption scandal for the company shows no sign of slowing down.

Delcídio do Amaral, who was appointed by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to be the leader of the Brazilian Senate, and Brazilian billionaire Andre Esteves were officially charged on Dec. 7 with obstruction of justice,

Amaral is the third politician in Brazil to be arrested in connection with the corruption scandal, which has raged since early 2014.

The heart of the scandal stems from kickbacks politicians and business received when Petrobras executives would purposely overcharge favorable construction companies for necessary works from 2004 to 2012.

Petrobras would then pay back some of the profits received in the form of bribes to politicians and executives to keep the scheme funded and operational. It has been estimated that nearly $3 billion was embezzled in the scheme.

Well over 100 arrests have been made in the investigation so far.

Rousseff has avoided being linked to the scandal although she served as chairwoman of Petrobras and as secretary of mines and energy in the Brazilian cabinet during part of the tainted time period.

Written by Mark Bisson in Lausanne and Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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