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Buying the Games

Panorama has gone undercover to investigate how the International Olympic Committee chooses which city will host the 2012 games.

Evening Standard - November 26
“The IOC executive board are expected to announce today that they plan to ask the same Singapore meeting that decides the 2012 venue to expel Ivan Slavkov, the Bulgarian member at the centre of a BBC Panorama corruption sting.

Slavkov, a senior figure in football as well as in the Olympic movement, was suspended from the IOC after the Panorama programme made allegations of “anxiety cialis soft treatment viagra” deals in the bidding for the 2012 Games. The affair caused huge damage to London’s bid because it brought back memories of the 1999 scandal that led to 10 IOC members being forced to quit for taking gifts during a previous bidding process.

The programme’s methods also upset many IOC members because they involved the use of hidden cameras and undercover reporters posing as London businessmen.”

The Independent comment - August 11
“Craig Reedie, the chairman of the British Olympic Association, protests too much. His intemperate comments on the BBC’s investigation into corruption in the International Olympic Committee are profoundly misplaced. By suggesting that last week’s Panorama was wrong to use hidden cameras to film a Bulgarian IOC member seeming to discuss the acceptance of bribes, Mr Reedie is effectively saying the BBC should not have investigated the IOC at all. Mr Reedie and the IOC ought to thank the BBC for exposing the bad apple in their midst. As it is, his reaction has merely emphasised what is wrong with the ruling bodies of the Olympic movement.”

Daily Mail - August 10
“Ivan Slavkov, Bulgaria’s IOC delegate, who was suspended from the committee after he was shown on the BBC’s Panorama programme last week discussing ways to secure votes for choosing the site of the 2012 Games, plans to sue the journalists involved, his spokesman said yesterday.”

Kate Hoey, Daily Telegraph - August 9
“BBC’s Panorama on Wednesday was equally depressing. The programme flagged up how unlikely it will be that the bidding for the 2012 Olympics can be fair and above board. Despite the changes made to the rules for the bidding cities by the International Olympic Committee following the Salt Lake City scandal, it seemed that not much had changed.

But on Saturday something did change for the better. Up until then the Bulgarian IOC member Ivan Slavkov, who featured in the Panorama expose, had shown no signs of being concerned over the allegations made about him. Indeed he had confirmed that he would be attending the Olympics ‘doing his duty’. Then the IOC’s ethics committee met in Athens and Jacques Rogge, the president of the IOC, announced that Slavkov had been suspended and would not be allowed to attend the Games. Rogge is genuinely committed to see a reformed and corruption-free Olympic movement even if the nature of the organisation makes it difficult. Most of the 124 members have been around for a long time and don’t want change.

IOC members are appointed directly by the IOC and are not accountable to anyone. Only the athlete members, like Matthew Pinsent, are elected and accountable. The rest sit as individuals and not as delegates representing their country. Indeed, relationships between members of the IOC and their governments vary greatly from one country to another.

Most of the national Olympic committees are state funded. The US and British Olympic Associations are the only two who are not. In the words of one member of the BOA, this means that “we can remain completely independent of the politicians”. Other national Olympic committees act as an arm of government and are controlled by the sports minister. Only the IOC can accredit dignitaries at the Games and once accredited that person must be allowed into the country.”

Sunday Times - August 8
“Ivan Slavkov, the head of the Bulgarian Olympic Association and a member of the IOC, had his Athens accreditation removed after allegations of corruption made during last week’s BBC Panorama programme.

Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, said yesterday: “You see before you an angry man. I can assure you, under my leadership, the IOC will be 100% respectful of the rules.” A BBC team posed as an East London company with an interest in securing the Games for the capital.

Slavkov, 64, and Goran Takach, a Serbian sports agent, were seen in the one-hour investigation by Panorama discussing ways to gain London votes as the city aims to win the Olympics for the first time since 1948.

London 2012 officials have officially distanced themselves from the BBC programme and they have been working with the IOC over the ethics that must be followed during such a voting process. The IOC said the executive board had decided to “provisionally deprive” Slavkov “of all the rights, prerogatives and functions deriving from his membership of the IOC throughout the inquiry”.

He could now be thrown out of the IOC. Along with Takach, three other agents who were featured in the programme, Gabor Komyathy, Mahmood El Farnawani and director-general of the Olympic Council of Asia, Muttaleb Ahmad, were also condemned by the IOC.”

Sunday Mirror - August 8
“The International Olympic Committee yesterday provisionally suspended Bulgarian member Ivan Slavkov and rescinded his accreditation to the Athens Olympics following allegations of bribery made in a BBC Panorama documentary.

IOC president Jacques Rogge took the unusual step of fronting a lunchtime press conference midway through the first day of the Executive Board meeting to reveal he was ‘an angry man’.

As well as Slavkov’s provisional suspension the four agents exposed in the documentary - Serbian-based Goran Takac, Gabor Komyathy of Hungary, the Egyptian Mahmood El Farnawani and Abdul Muttaleb Ahmad from Kuwait - have all been declared ‘persona non grata’ by the IOC.

Rogge said: “Unfortunately this morning we had to discuss the dark and sombre sides of sport: doping, alleged corruption, possible exclusion of a member.

“This is never pleasant but shows the resolve of the IOC to have zero tolerance of these aspects.

“This is provisional measure because there is always presumption of innocence and a sanction can only be decided upon at end of the enquiry.”

New York Times - August 5
“Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, arrived in Athens yesterday and promised that the I.O.C. would take any necessary action over allegations made in a BBC television program about corruption in bidding for the 2012 Games.

The program, ‘’Panorama,'’ was to be broadcast last night. Rogge said he did not know the details of the accusations, but that ‘’the Ethics Commission will look into that and the I.O.C. will take the necessary action.'’

London, Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow are on the short list for the 2012 Games. The host city will be named next July after a vote by I.O.C. members.”

RIA Novosti, Russia - August 5
“The International Olympic Committee Vice-President scolded the BBC Panorama programme for picking the wrong time for the bidding scandal - right before the opening of the Olympic Games in Athens.

“We are looking forward to one of the great holidays in the world - the Olympic Games in Athens. No one would like to see the games spirit darkened,” said Vitaly Smirnov. According to the IOC Vice-President the BBC muck-raking would cost London 2012 bid vital votes.”

The Statesman, India - August 5
“Bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games is riddled with corruption, with so-called ‘agents’ promising to deliver dozens of International Olympic Committee votes in return for bribes, an investigation said today.
An undercover BBC television team talked to a series of agents with close ties to the Olympic movement who promised between them to deliver the votes of 54 IOC members, according to a documentary to be broadcast later this week.”

Torronto Star, Canada - August 5
“For the third time, Oakville entrepreneur and souvenir manufacturer Mahmood El Farnawani has been linked to a controversy in which cash or services were offered in exchange for IOC votes in bidding for Olympic Games.

Last night, BBC TV reported that El Farnawani was one of four middlemen who claimed they could secure IOC members’ votes in London’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

He was also implicated indirectly in scandals to win the 2000 Summer Games for Sydney and the 2002 Winter Games for Salt Lake City.

The 71-year-old El Farnawani also worked for the unsuccessful Toronto Olympic bids for 1996 and 2008….El Farnawani could not be reached for comment yesterday, but in the past he has denied being involved in anything illicit. A woman who described herself as a friend of El Farnawani said he no longer lives in Oakville, but has returned to his native Egypt.”

Sofia News Agency - August 5
“Andrew Jennings, consultant in the BBC Panorama programme investigation, expressed disbelief that the journalists will be sued over the IOC cash-for-votes scandal that they triggered. Pigs would fly before this happens, Jennings told the Bulgarian Section of the BBC.”

Sofia News Agency - August 5
“Germany’s member of the International Olympic Committee called for the resignation of Bulgaria’s member Ivan Slavkov in the wake of the cash-for-votes scandal.

According to Manfred von Richthofen, Ivan Slavkov will be discredited during the investigations of the BBC documentary scandal, which accuses him of inappropriate conduct in the 2012 Olympic bidding process and vote-purchasing.

A man who has once been suspected of contrary to the IOC’s goals behaviour and now discredits IOC again has nothing to do in that leadership any more, Manfred von Richthofen said, referring to the 1998 Salt Lake scandal from which Slavkov was cleared.

The bidding scandal made front-page headlines in Germany.”

The Australian - August 5
“An Egyptian businessman has boasted he was paid $85,200 to secure the two critical votes that won Sydney the Olympic Games.

Mahmoud El Farnawani was working as a consultant for the Sydney bid when he delivered letters to the Ugandan and Kenyan International Olympic Committee members promising $35,000 each in sporting grants if Sydney triumphed.
“I am the one who made it for them. OK?”

Mr El Farnawani told undercover reporters of the BBC’s Panorama program, broadcast overnight in London.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates in 1999 revealed he sealed the deal with Charles Mukura of Kenya and Francis Nyangweso of Uganda the night before Sydney got the vital two of the 88 votes needed to beat Beijing at the IOC meeting in Monte Carlo in 1993.

But Mr Coates denied last night Mr El Farnawani had received improper payments to secure the votes.”

Reuters - August 4
“International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge today promised the IOC wull take any necessary action over allegations made in the BBC TV Panorama program about bidding for the 2012 Games.

Rogge told reporters before the program 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.”

TV Canal 24 Madrid - August 4
Feliciano Mayoral, president of Madrid’s 2012 Olympic bid, has pledged to “carry on working honestly”, in statements to Spanish 24 Horas television.
A BBC Panorama report to be screened on 4 August shows an International Olympic Committee member discussing a trade in votes to London’s benefit.
“The ethics committee of the International Olympic Committee and the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee are the bodies in charge of judging whether there has really been corruption and taking the consequent measures,” Mayoral said.
“What we must do is carry on working honestly, as we have been doing since we began the candidature process,” he added.

Financial Times - August 4
“The BBC is set to pass the results of an investigation into corruption in the Olympic movement to the International Olympic Committee after secretly filming a committee member discussing the voting process.

Reporters from the BBC’s Panorama programme spent a year pretending to represent east London business interests prepared to pay IOC members in exchange for them voting for London’s bid to host the 2012 Games.

The programme, which will be broadcast tonight, filmed agents who work in the Olympic movement boasting of how many votes they could secure. One intermediary, Goran Takac, said he could deliver 15-20 votes, with seven-10 requiring “some kind of payment”.

Mr Takac also introduced the programme makers to Ivan Slavkov, the IOC’s representative from Bulgaria. The meeting breached IOC rules that bar members from being “involved with firms or persons whose activity is inconsistent with the principles set out in the Olympic charter”.

The BBC said it was prepared to share its information with the IOC, which has launched an investigation.”

The Times - August 4
“An unscrupulous city could buy the Olympic Games for 3 million in bribes and backhanders, a television documentary will claim tonight.

Agents or “fixers” -Olympic insiders with close ties to International Olympic Committee members -offered cash-for-votes deals at secret meetings with undercover reporters.

They said it would cost between 1.1 million and 2.7 million to bribe enough IOC members to secure the Games for a bid city. Just nine days before the opening ceremony in Athens, the IOC ethics commission is to investigate the role of agents in the bidding process.

It will also inquire into the behaviour of one of its members, Ivan Slavkov, of Bulgaria, after the sting by a BBC team posing as an East London business consortium.

Four agents have been identified as being able to woo crucial IOC members for the right price when the 124-member IOC is polled in July to select the host city for the 2012 Games. London is one of the five short-listed candidates, as well as Paris, Madrid, Moscow and New York.

The claims, which will be aired on Panorama tonight, will be sent to the IOC ethics commission today.”

Seattle Post - August 4
“Four middlemen claim in meetings secretly taped by a BBC TV program that they could secure IOC members’ votes in bidding for the 2012 Olympics. The show, which offers no conclusive evidence of bribery, will air in Britain tonight. Reporters were shown an advance screening yesterday.

Only one IOC member, Ivan Slavkov of Bulgaria, is specifically implicated. He is shown discussing how to influence votes, but his comments are ambiguous, and he and one of the middlemen, Goran Takac, denied any wrongdoing at a news conference in Sofia yesterday. Takac said they played along to expose potential corruption. Attempts to reach the other middlemen were unsuccessful.

The IOC asked its ethics commission to investigate “alleged inappropriate conduct within the Olympic movement linked with the bid process.” IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the committee would have no further comment until officials have seen the broadcast.”

The Times - August 4
After a string of embarrassing scandals, the Athens Olympics is being presented as a return to the Olympian ideals of integrity and fair play. Panorama, however, reveals evidence that the votes of some members of the International Olympic Committee - the private club that controls the Games - are still being offered for sale. During a year-long investigation, a team of undercover reporters tried to find out what it takes to get the Games, and it would appear that the answer is simple - hard cash. Hey, maybe bunging could become an Olympic sport.

Independent, South Africa - August 4
“Two senior members of the Olympic movement told undercover journalists posing as business agents they could corrupt the 2012 Olympic bidding process, BBC TV alleged on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, one of those implicated denied the claims to be made during a one hour-long Panorama programme. The other could not be contacted immediately.

Bulgarian International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Ivan Slavkov said he and an agent had been launching their own counter-operation to catch people trying to “entrap” Olympic officials.

‘Have you already decided where your allegiances lie?’
In the most damaging scenes from the programme, already the subject of an IOC investigation, Slavkov is shown discussing ways to secure votes for 2012.

The programme also shows Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) director general Muttaleb Ahmad explain how he can influence IOC votes, stirring memories of the Salt Lake City corruption scandal that rocked the movement six years ago.”

Independent - August 4
“More than 30 members of the International Olympic Committee may be subjected to an internal investigation after claims made by the BBC’s Panorama programme of continued corruption within the organisation.

According to the programme to be broadcast tonight, almost a quarter of the 124 members are open to bribery to varying degrees in return for their vote for a city bidding to stage the Games in 2012.

The claims are made by the Serbian businessman Goran Takac, one of four “Olympic agents” involved in numerous previous bids and filmed by Panorama. Investigative reporters posed as consultants who are supposedly acting for an east London business consortium trying to buy votes for London’s bid to stage the Games.

If the claims prove well founded they will hugely undermine the IOC’s free generic sample viagra drive. The IOC’s anti-corruption unit began investigating Panorama’s claims last week and said yesterday it was waiting to see the programme. Panorama was consulting its lawyers last night over which names it could hand to the IOC.

A member of the committee most directly implicated is Ivan Slavkov, the IOC member for Bulgaria and the son-in-law of that country’s former communist dictator, Todor Zhivkov. Professor Slavkov agreed to a meeting in Sofia also attended by the agent Takac and the undercover reporters working for “New London Ventures”.

He appears to agree to consultants’ requests for a “business contract” to influence other IOC members and remains impassive while details of his remuneration are discussed. After Professor Slavkov leaves the room the agent flicks through the list of IOC members, identifying the 34 who could be influenced. Four names, Takac said, were “100 per cent under control” while others have to be approached more directly.

Takac refers back to an earlier conversation - also caught on film - when he offers to deliver up to EUR4m (pounds 2.6m) for as many as 20 IOC votes, a third of the way to the winning post.

When they were contacted later by Panorama, both men said they had agreed to the meeting to expose what they thought was a real attempt to corrupt the bidding process.”

Canberra Times - August 3
“A spokesman for Bulgaria’s top sports official yesterday denied he was implicated in a scandal involvingthe 2012 bidding process. Ivan Slavkov, a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1987, “is not guilty and the involvement of his name in this affair is a provocation,” his spokesman,Atanas Karaivanov, told reporters. “Someone is smearing the name of Ivan Slavkov in an attempt to affect Sofia’s candidacy to host the Winter Olympics in 2014,” Karaivanov said.
Slavkov, who is not in the country according to his spokesman, could not be reached for comment.”

Irish Times - August 2
“Bulgarian Ivan Slavkov, the IOC member named by the London Evening Standard as being accused of “inappropriate conduct” in the 2012 Olympic bidding process, failed to turn up at a news conference yesterday. Slavkov was named on Friday as being involved in a sting by a BBC documentary, which alleges votes were for sale and has prompted an IOC investigation. BBC news reported the Panorama programme, to be broadcast on Wednesday, shows at least one IOC member flouting selection process rules for the 2012 Games.”

Independent - August 2
“A spokesman for a leading Bulgarian sports official has denied he was implicated in a scandal involving the 2012 host city bidding process. Ivan Slavkov, a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1987, “is not guilty and the involvement of his name in this affair is a provocation,” his spokesman, Atanas Karaivanov, said. “Someone is smearing the name of Ivan Slavkov in an attempt to affect Sofia’s candidacy to host the Winter Olympics in 2014,” Karaivanov said. On Thursday, the IOC asked its ethics commission to investigate “alleged inappropriate conduct within the Olympic movement linked with the bid process.” The allegations are to be aired on the BBC news programme Panorama on Wednesday.”

Evening Standard - July 30
“London Olympic bid leaders were battling today to avoid becoming embroiled in a potential “cash-for-votes” scandal in the race for the 2012 Games. The International Olympic Committee yesterday launched an inquiry into allegations of “inappropriate conduct” in the 2012 race made by the BBC in a Panorama programme to be broadcast next week.

Olympic sources told Standard Sport that the allegations - if substantiated - were likely to be discussed at a meeting of the IOC’s ruling executive board to be held just before the start of the Athens Olympics two weeks today. The Government and officials from the IOC and the London bid will be watching Wednesday’s programme closely to see if there is any substance in suggestions that the BBC has found evidence of potential bribery.

It is understood that the programme includes a film of undercover reporters, representing a bogus East London business consortium, securing the vote of at least one IOC member with a bribe. A “cash-for-votes” scandal involving Salt Lake City brought the IOC to its knees in 1999 and former President Juan Antonio Samaranch went close to resigning.
Olympic leaders said the IOC were determined to take action if the programme provided evidence of wrongdoing.”

Guardian - July 30
“The International Olympic Committee last night launched an investigation into allegations that a European IOC member was willing to accept a bribe to assist London’s chances of winning the 2012 Olympics from undercover reporters posing as London-based businessmen.

The IOC president Jacques Rogge referred the allegations, made in a Panorama programme to be broadcast next Wednesday, to the IOC’s ethics commission after they were brought to his attention by officials at London 2012.

“We take such matters very seriously and we can assure everyone that we are not treating the matter lightly,” said Giselle Davies, a spokeswoman for the IOC. “If the ethics commission decide that there is a case to answer then you can rest assured that it will be dealt with.”"

The Times - July 30
“Olympic chiefs yesterday ordered an inquiry into allegations of “inappropriate conduct” and apparent corruption in the bidding process to stage the 2012 Games for which London is a leading contender.

The allegations come two weeks before the summer Games open in Athens. They concern claims that the voting for candidate cities can potentially still be rigged by bribing a member of the 124-strong International Olympic Committee (IOC).

It is understood that a Panorama programme, to be screened next Wednesday, includes a film of undercover reporters, representing a bogus East London business consortium, allegedly securing the vote of at least one IOC member with a bribe.

The BBC yesterday put a news blackout on the story, threatening employees with the sack should they leak information.

Neither the Government nor the London bid team have been told any details of the contents of the programme, senior officials said last night. However, officials quickly distanced themselves from the claims and Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, voiced confidence in the integrity of the London team, which is led by Lord Coe.

“We would like to see the programme and then we would know where we stand,” one said.”

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