In another blow to the preparations for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, french police have raided the headquarters of the organisers of the Paris Olympics.
Another blow to the 2024 Paris Olympics
The searches are being carried out by a team consisting of the public prosecutor, The Parquet national financier, and criminal police collecting crucial documents related to the alleged corruption.
The 2024 Olympics committee, in a statement, said that a ‘search’ was underway at their headquarters and that they are entirely cooperating with the investigators to help in their investigation.
The raids have cast doubt over the upcoming games after the resignation of Brigitte Henriques, the French National Olympic Committee president, until last month.
Henriques, a former football player on the French national team, was distinguished as the country’s first female Olympic president. However, intense infighting forced her to step down from the position. After Henriques left, the position is currently held by Astrid Guyart on an interim basis.
What are the corruption allegations?
According to reports, the searches are linked to two preliminary investigations of the Paris Olympics that are yet to be made public. The raids are happening at numerous places, including at Solideo, the company in charge of all the facilities at the Olympics.
One of the investigations into suspected favouritism and embezzlement of public funds has been ongoing for the last six years. There were also concerns about an unspecified contract reached by Paris organisers.
Another investigation was started last year following an audit by the French Anti-corruption Agency. The prosecutor’s office said the case targets suspected conflict of interest and favouritism involving several contracts between the organising committee and Solideo.
Paris becomes the third straight Olympics organiser to be investigated for corruption. Earlier, vote-buying allegations were linked to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and the 2020 Tokyo Games previously removed several members of the International Olympic Committee from that organisation.
French Sports Organisations in Turmoil
Brigitte Henriques, the former French National Olympic Committee president, is one of many to resign in the past year. In February, Noel Le Graet resigned as president of the French Football Federation after an audit found him not eligible to lead because of his behaviour toward women.
In January, Bernard Laporte resigned as president of the French Rugby Federation after being convicted and given a suspended prison sentence on corruption charges. France will host the Rugby World Cup in September, which is expected to test France’s preparations for the Olympics.
Will it Impact the Olympics games?
The raids coincided with a two-day International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board meeting held in Switzerland to talk about the progress of the Paris 2024 Games preparations.
The Olympics are scheduled from 26th July to 11th August 2024. The Olympics village is being built on the outskirts of Paris, in the underprivileged suburb of Saint-Denis. The same place where raids are currently ongoing.
The total budget of the Paris Olympics has gone way past the initial estimate given in 2017 of $7.2 billion and has now reached $9.62 billion with still a year left before the games start. This cost excludes $437 million being spent on security alone. When combined, the cost has already crossed $10 billion.
