Widening Olympic Scandal Takes to the Hill Today

With Congress scrutinizing the billion-dollar finances of the International Olympic Committees, the focus of the ever-widening Olympic corruption scandal shifts today to CapitolHill.

Nearly five months after the first disclosures in the $1-million bribery scandal linked to the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the Senate Commerce Committee convenes for a hearing into what went wrong--even as it weighs proposed legislation that would hit the IOC where it would hurt most, in its Swiss bank accounts.

A draft bill circulated by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) would limit the IOC’s tax-exempt status and deductions its major corporate “partners”--nine of 11 of them American--can take for Olympic sponsorships. Some sponsors have said such legislation might well drive them away.

Meanwhile, Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) introduced a bill late Monday that would bar U.S. companies from providing financial support to the IOC unless the IOC adopts reforms proposed by a special panel headed by former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, calling for more openness and accountability. “We need to put pressure on for real reform,” Waxman said.

What happens at today’s Senate hearing, chaired by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), is expected to determine whether Congress escalates pressure on the IOC or accepts assurances that the IOC is committed to genuine reform, and backs off.

Senior IOC officials said they are well aware of the stakes. Vice President Anita DeFrantz spent six hours Tuesday preparing for today’s testimony, emerging to say, “We do take these hearings very seriously.”

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch declined an invitation to appear. No sponsors are due to testify. But McCain may schedule a second hearing for them, since several have asked for a “public forum,” Commerce Committee spokeswoman Pia Pialorsi said Tuesday.

To date, no sponsors have backed out of their Olympic commitments although four investigations of the Salt Lake scandal have been completed. Ten IOC members have resigned or been expelled, and several of Salt Lake’s Olympic leaders have been kicked out--and the IOC has launched two reform efforts.

One, dubbed IOC 2000 and chaired by Samaranch, is intended to restructure the IOC from top to bottom.

The IOC has also created an ethics panel and charged it with enforcing compliance with a to-be-developed code of conduct.

Meanwhile, two investigations into the Salt Lake scandal remain ongoing. The U.S. Justice Department and the Utah attorney general are investigating whether laws were broken in the delivery of cash, gifts and services to IOC members.