(ATR) The IOC says it has been alerted to the inquiry by French police into a $1.5 million secret payment allegedly made by the bid from Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.
"The IOC’s Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer will continue to be in contact with all interested parties to clarify any alleged improper conduct. The IOC will not comment any further on the elements of the investigations at this stage," says a statement from IOC headquarters in Lausanne.
Owen Gibson of The Guardian reports that French prosecutors are pursuing the details of the alleged payment from the bid in 2013 to an account in Singapore linked to Papa Masa Diack, son of the disgraced ex-president of athletics federation IAAF, Lamine Diack.
The payment was first revealed in a footnote last November within the report of an independent commission investigating the doping scandal involving Russian track and field athletes. The commission report accuses Diack of accepting bribes to keep silent on doping violations, allegations that French police have been investigating for the better part of a year. The footnote says that the payment from Tokyo was made after a Japanese company signed a sponsorship deal with the IAAF before the IOC vote on 2020 in September 2013.
While ethics officer Pâquerette Girard Zappelli may be leading the IOC inquiry, her office is not likely to take any actions until French authorities decide what to do.
With Lamine Diack gone from the IOC, no consequences are possible for him, his son or other associates now banned from the IAAF.
But if individuals in Japan are implicated who still have ties to the Olympics, such as posts with the Japanese Olympic Committee or its marketing arm, Dentsu, they could face IOC censure.
Tokyo 2020 maintains it knows nothing about the alleged payment.
In a statement sent to ATR, spokeswoman Hikariko Ono said:"The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee has no means of knowing these allegations. We believe that the Games were awarded to Tokyo because the city presented the best bid."
Tokyo 2020 said it hadnot been contacted by French investigators.
Written by Ed Hula.
Homepage photo: Getty Images
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