THE WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION that has tainted sports organisations in recent years has ensured that there’s little shock or surprise anymore when another story breaks.
Still, sometimes, the details are remarkable. Like in the case of Carlos Nuzman.
This week the president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) and the chief of last year’s Games was arrested on charges of attempting to bribe IOC officials to vote for Rio as the 2016 host city.
Leonardo Gryner, director general of operations for Rio 2016, was also arrested.
75-year-old Nuzman has subsequently been suspended by the IOC.
Investigators from Brazil, France and the US are combining in their quest to reveal an international corruption scheme and quickly earmarked Nuzman as a person of interest.
Last month they raided his house and collected various documents and a computer. There was also £118,000 in cash stored in a wardrobe.
Investigators also came upon a key for a safe in a Swiss bank where Nuzman has 16 one-kilogram gold bars.
Nuzman’s net worth increased by 457% in his last decade at the COB and he’s accused of funnelling £1.5m to Lamine Diack – the former head of IAAF – to ensure the Rio Olympic bid was successful back in 2009.
This is the latest development in an investigation that started out in France four years ago and focused on Diack, his family and possible blackmail, money-laundering and doping cover-ups.
He resigned as honorary member of the IOC in 2015, a day after he was suspended.
The entire thing is sinister and dark and portrays a collection of wealthy, well-known sports administrators as money-obsessed, egotistical criminals.
Nuzman is the latest.
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