Paris Olympics organizers focus on suspected corruption case

French investigators searched the headquarters of the Olympic Games organizers in Paris on Tuesday in an investigation into suspected corruption, the national financial prosecutor’s office said.

The Paris Organizing Committee said in a statement that the search process is underway at its headquarters in the suburb of Saint-Denis, and that “Paris 2024 is cooperating with investigators to facilitate their investigations.” Will not comment further.

Paris has become the third consecutive Summer Games organizer to be implicated in investigations by anti-corruption authorities in the French capital.

Allegations of vote-buying related to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Games had previously removed several IOC members from that organization.

An official with the financial prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that the searches are linked to two preliminary investigations related to the Paris Olympics that have not been previously made public. The official was not authorized to be named publicly, in accordance with OAG policy.

The prosecutor’s office said one of the investigations was opened in 2017 – the year the IOC chose Paris to host 2024 – on suspicion of misappropriation of public funds and nepotism, and concerns about an unspecified contract reached by the Paris organizers.

The other opened in 2022 after an audit by France’s anti-corruption agency. The prosecutor’s office said the case targets suspected conflicts of interest and favoritism involving several contracts concluded between the organizing committee and the Olympic facilities company Solido.

The Olympic Games are scheduled to be held in Paris on July 26-August. 11, 2024.

The raids took place at the same time that the IOC’s executive board began a two-day meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, expecting to praise the Paris organizers for their progress.

IOC President Thomas Bach told reporters early Monday that the meeting “will, of course, be about Paris, where we have some good news after the visit of the coordinating mission and after my visit to France, to President Macron, as well as the organizing committee.”

The IOC said it expects to issue a statement Tuesday on the raids in Paris ahead of a previously scheduled online news briefing once it wraps up its meeting for the day.