By Victor Kanayo
French Police have raided the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics as part of investigation of its organising committee.
Also, the security operatives are probing those of its infrastructure partner over alleged embezzlement of public funds and favouritism, according to prosecutors.
The national financial prosecutor’s office (PNF) as reported by Reuters said the Paris 2024 headquarters was raided on Tuesday after a preliminary investigation was launched in 2017 into contracts made by the Summer Games organising committee.
The headquarters of SOLIDEO, the public body responsible for delivering Olympic and Paralympic infrastructure, was also searched as part of a preliminary investigation dating back to 2022 after an audit by the French Anti-Corruption Agency, the PNF added.
A PNF spokesman told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the probes concerned “illegal conflict of interest, misuse of public funds and favouritism”.
Paris 2024 confirmed in a statement that a search was taking place at the headquarters of the organising committee.
“Paris 2024 is cooperating fully with the investigators to facilitate their inquiries,” it said.
The Paris 2024 Olympics, which organising committee President Tony Estanguet has promised will be “beyond reproach”, will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024, and the Paralympic Games will take place from August 28 to September 6 next year.
The searches coincided with the start of a two-day International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board meeting on Tuesday to discuss a number of issues, including progress of Paris 2024 Games preparations.
“We are aware that there has been a search by police of the Paris 2024 headquarters today,” an IOC spokesperson said.
“We have been informed by Paris 2024 that they are cooperating fully with the authorities in this matter.”
Paris becomes the third straight Summer Games organiser implicated in investigations led by anti-corruption authorities.
