(ATR) Denials of wrong-doing while the IOC awaits evidence in an alleged scandal over black market ticket sales to the London Olympics.
In the coming days, the IOC Ethics Commission is supposed to receive evidence from The Sunday Times of London that alleges improper ticket dealings by National Olympic Committees.
A two-month undercover investigation by the newspaper released Sunday shows NOC ticket agents and one NOC president discussing the sale of London tickets at multiples of their face value, as much as ten times.
The world’s 204 NOCs are allocated more than one million tickets for resale, but only within their territory. Reporters from The Times portrayed themselves as ticket brokers with Middle East connections, seeking NOCs or NOC agents willing to break IOC and LOCOG rules for profit.
Greg Harney, president of Global Sports Partners, which represents 40 NOCs around the world, was flagged in the article for telling the undercover reporters that they would need to have an address in one of those countries for them to acquire tickets.
Harney tells Around the Rings his firm did not violate any rules in discussions with the reporters - and that he reported their activities to LOCOG. No business was ever transacted, Harney says .
"We have and continue to abide by the IOC rules and will fully cooperate with IOC investigation," he says.
Harney says he is misidentified in The Times article as "organiser of New York city’s failed bid for the 2012 Games". Harney worked on the bid as a USOC staff member, but says he was not the organizer of the bid.
Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos tells ATR that on the advice of legal counsel he could not comment.
Capralos is quoted from a secretly recorded video boasting of his inside connection to London 2012 chair Sebastian Coe, a connection he said would help Greece secure more high demand tickets. The video is accessible via The Sunday Times website. LOCOG has issued a statement that disavows any special ticket deals for Greece.
Individuals representing other NOCs, such as Serbia, China, Israel, Cyprus and Lithuania are also spotlighted in The Times report.
After receiving word of the story 24 hours before it was to be published, IOC President Jacques Rogge summoned a rare emergency meeting of the 15-member IOC Executive Board, held by teleconference Friday evening Lausanne time.
The matter is now referred to the IOC Ethics Commission. Whether it can complete its review ahead of the London Olympics is not certain given the time it will take to examine evidence and take testimony.
A source familiar with the situation tells ATR that the EB can still suspend individuals while the ethics inquiry is underway. The IOC can also bar individuals from receiving credentials for the London Olympics.
While The Sunday Times report asserts that 54 NOCs may be involved in the scandal, ATR is told the number of instances worthy of scrutiny may number 10 to 15 and that only three or four of the cases may be flagrant enough to draw punishment.
Besides suspensions, the IOC can levy fines and withhold future ticket allocations to NOCs.
Except for one case, the infractions appear to only involve breaches of IOC policy and non-criminal. But in the case of the accusations against the Serbian ticket agent who said he could deliver 400 forged signatures of Serbian passport holders, fraud may also be involved.
"The IOC take this seriously," one EB member tells ATR, calling this episode "a mess". He predicts a total revamp of the way the IOC handles the allocation of tickets to the NOCs.
Written by Ed Hula.
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