Rio 2016 and Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) Carlos Nuzman has been suspended as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) honorary member and withdrawn from the Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission following his arrest yesterday in Brazil.
The COB has also been suspended by the IOC and will not receive subsidies and payment or be allowed to “exercise its membership rights in NOC associations”.
This will not affect athletes, however, who will still be able to compete at February’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang “under the umbrella of the COB with all rights and obligations”.
It follows the arrest of 75-year-old Nuzman and Rio 2016 general director Leonardo Gryner yesterday for alleged involvement in a vote-buying scandal connected to their successful bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The duo are being indicted for “corruption, money laundering and criminal organization”.
In a far more strongly-worded statement than the one they delivered yesterday, the IOC “reiterated its full commitment to the protection of the integrity of sport”.
They added: “The IOC will continue to address any issue affecting this integrity under the rules and regulations of its recently reformed governance system”.
“It is in the highest interests of the IOC to be able to fully address such matters concerning an IOC member or an IOC honorary member as soon as possible, in order to protect its reputation as an organization.”
They also asked all judicial authorities to provide the IOC Ethics Commission with “all the available information at their earliest convenience” before vowing to “continue to fully cooperate” with all these judicial authorities.
The provisional suspension of the COB is justified on the grounds that both the National Olympic Committee itself and its President, Nuzman, were responsible for the candidature of Rio de Janeiro in 2009.
All subsidies and payments from the IOC will be frozen and they will not be allowed to attend events such as next month’s Association of National Olympic Committees and Pan American Sports Organization General Assemblies in Prague.
But, in order to “protect the interests” of the Brazilian athletes, they shall be unaffected.
“Therefore, the IOC will accept a Brazilian Olympic Team in the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018 and in all other competitions under the umbrella of the COB with all rights and obligations,” today’s statement added.
Olympic scholarships to Brazilian athletes will also continue to be paid.
Athletes may be affected indirectly, though, by the freezing of subsidies and payments.
By Nick Butler
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.