(ATR) The AOC spent $1.26m on the bullying case involving its former media chief Mike Tancred.
In September, an independent committee cleared Tancred of five bullying allegations, saying complaints made against him by former Australian Olympic Committee employees were not made on "an objective basis". The ex- AOC workers said they were baffled by the findings which reached no conclusion of guilt or innocence.
One of the allegations leveled at Tancred came from former AOC chief executive officer Fiona de Jong.
Tancred, who had worked for the AOC for 18 years, was severely reprimanded for his "disreputable conduct" in a separate investigation into the claims made by De Jong.
The Australian Olympic Committee revealed the $1.26m (Aus $1.6m) in legal and dispute resolution costs for the bullying scandal in its annual report released on Thursday.
The figure includes the $290,000 cost of establishing an independent committee to investigate the bullying claims, $214,000 to indemnify Tancred and De Jong of their legal costs and $313,500 the AOC spent in relation to the complaints and employment advice.
When he left last year, Tancred received a payout of $400,600 in retirement benefit and superannuation in addition to $156,600 for his nine months workfor the AOC in 2017.
De Jong received a $102,800 payout package including superannuation.
The bullying scandal triggered a review of the AOC’s workplace practices which has led to an overhaul of the organisation’s governance.
AOC chairman John Coates will report on the ongoing governance revamp at the Olympic committee’s annual meeting in Sydney on April 28.
Coates, who last year pocketed a salary of $542,500 (Aus $706,042), will also report on the AOC’s financial position.
The NOC is on track to achieve $48.2m in sponsorship revenue in the four-year build-up to the Tokyo 2020 Games.
AOC Orders of Merit will be awarded to a number of Australia’s most celebrated Olympians: Cathy Freeman, Raelene Boyle, Ian Thorpe and Shane Gould.
The Harry Gordon Memorial Award for Olympic Journalism, awarded following each Olympics for the best Olympic journalism by an Australian covering those Games, will be presented to Ms Jacquelin Magnay of News Limited for her coverage of PyeongChang 2018.
Life membership of the AOC will be conferred on vice president Ian Chesterman for his outstanding service to the organisation and sport. He has been chef de mission at the past six Winter Olympics and will lead Australia’s team to Tokyo 2020.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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