Around 14 months before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, investigators searched the headquarters of the Paris Olympic organizers as part of investigations by the financial public prosecutor’s office.
There were also searches at the construction company responsible for the games, as the Paris public prosecutor’s office confirmed to the German Press Agency on Tuesday. It is about preliminary investigations from the years 2017 and 2022 on nepotism and misappropriation of public funds with a view to awarded contracts.
The Olympic organizers confirmed the search on Tuesday morning: “A police search is currently underway at the headquarters of the organizing committee. Paris 2024 is fully cooperating with the investigators to support their investigations,” said Olympia 2024 spokesman Jonathan Firpo. He did not say what the searches were about. According to the newspaper “Le Monde”, there were also raids on the headquarters of several companies and consultants involved in organizing the games.
Also against Rio and Tokyo investigations by anti-corruption authorities
The Paris Olympics are scheduled from July 26 to August 11, 2024. The raids coincided with the start of a two-day meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive to commend the Paris organizers for their progress.
Paris is the third consecutive Summer Games organizer to be embroiled in an investigation by anti-corruption agencies. Several members of the International Olympic Committee have already been expelled from this organization because of allegations of vote-buying in connection with the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the Tokyo 2021 Games.
Head of the OC resigned a few weeks ago
Just a few weeks ago, the head of the French Olympic Committee, Brigitte Henriques, submitted her resignation. According to French media, the decision follows power struggles within the committee. There should have been disagreements with her predecessor Denis Masseglia in particular. The broadcaster France Info wrote of a “disgrace” for the committee and a “management crisis”.