This material belongs to: Independent.
Brazilian federal police are investigating a suspected international vote-buying scheme.
Brazilian police have raided the head of the Brazil’s Olympic committee’s home over allegations that the vote to award the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro was rigged.
Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee [BOC] and a member of the International Olympic Committee [IOC], was one of the targets in a series of raids as police served two arrest warrants, conducted searches and seized evidence following allegations of an international vote-buying scheme.
It’s alleged that votes in Africa were bought before the 2009 vote, in which Rio was awarded hosting rights over Madrid by a result of 66-32.
A spokesman for the Rio Olympics declined to comment on Tuesday, while the IOC confirmed that they are attempting to make contact with officials in Brazil regarding the federal investigation.
“The IOC has learned about these circumstances from the media and is making every effort to get the full information,” an IOC spokesman read.
“It is in the highest interests of the IOC to get clarification on this matter.”
The IOC has previously announced that it is investigating claims of corruption over how Rio won the 2016 Games. In March 2016, a French newspaper report accuses Brazilian businessmen of making a payment to Papa Massata Diack, son of former International Association of Athletics Federations president Lamine Diack, three days before the vote.
French newspaper Le Monde said a company linked to Brazilian businessman Arthur Cesar de Menezes Soares Filho paid $1.5m to Papa Massata Diack, who has since been given a lifetime ban from sport due to his role in covering up Russian athlete Valentin Balakhnichev’s positive doping test and blackmailing him for it. He denies any wrongdoing regarding the matter.
