A search is underway at the headquarters of the Organizing Committee of the 2024 Games (COJO) in Saint-Denis, near Paris. Kojo told AFP on Tuesday, without specifying what the inquiry was about.
Another difficulty for the French Olympics: 400 days after the start of the Paris Games, the Organizing Committee (COJO) and other sites were searched on Tuesday as part of an investigation by the Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF).
The public prosecutor confirmed information from France TV that searches had been ordered in Gojo within the framework of two preliminary investigations.
Illegal charging of interest
The first, opened in 2017 and handed over to the Central Office against Corruption and Financial and Tax Crimes (OCLCIFF), was “by several successive contracting authorities related to the Olympic Games, especially Gojo and the GIP 2024”, said the pre-Gojo bid committee, PNF.
The public ministry said the investigation was about suspicions of “illegal taking of benefits, misappropriation of public funds, favoritism and concealment of will”. Contacted, the Sports Ministry and the Olympics declined to respond at this stage.
In the large modern and brown facade of Gojo in Saint-Denis, investigators on Tuesday morning not only saw the parade: they were also searching the Olympic Works delivery company (Solidio) in the center-west of Paris. Other sites, according to PNF.
According to the PNF, these searches are actually carried out within the framework of the second procedure, opened in 2022 and entrusted to the BRDE, the financial unit of the Parisian judicial police, for suspicions of illegal interests, favors and concealment. desire.
“Risks of Violating Ethics”
According to the PNF, after an investigation by the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA), it was related to several contracts awarded by Cojo and Solideo. According to a source familiar with the matter, it is about “consulting deals” on “various subjects”.
According to another source familiar with the matter, one of the two practices is interested in potential conflicts related to Gojo’s director of operations, Edward Donnelly, who was previously the Olympics’ supplier through his company RNK.
Asked by AFP, Cojo and Solideo separately confirmed the searches and indicated they were “cooperating fully with investigators”.
Gojo was constituted as a society under the 1901 Act. The Court of Auditors is closely monitoring its functioning and is expected to issue a report very soon.
In April 2021, two AFA reports on the organization of the Olympics, AFP has learned, pointed to “risks of misconduct” and “conflicts of interest” and scratched the image of the “model” Olympics the boss wanted. Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet.
AFA inspectors considered the general practice of procurement to be “imprecise and incomplete” and stressed that “sometimes there are situations of uncontrolled conflicts of interest”.
In their reports, the AFA inspectors recalled the criminal proceedings against the heads of the Brazilian and Japanese Olympic Committees linked to the last two Summer Games (Rio and Tokyo), and that “risks of harming morale are frequently observed in the context of major sporting events”.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
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