IOC Seeks Inquiry on Bidding

With the Aug. 13 start of the 2004 Summer Games a little more than two weeks away, the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday asked its ethics commission to inquire into the possibility of irregularities in the scandal-plagued bidding process for cities.

The IOC acted after being asked by producers of “Panorama,” a BBC television news program, to respond to a number of matters, including the role of agents and consultants in the process by which cities worldwide vie for the right to stage the Summer or Winter Games. The show is to air next week.

Details about the program remained sketchy. For instance, it was not immediately clear whether the show alleges misconduct, and whether IOC members -- there are 124 -- could be implicated in any wrongdoing. A call late Wednesday to the offices of “Panorama” was not answered.

The referral comes with worldwide attention shifting to the IOC with the upcoming Athens Games, and in the midst of the race for the 2012 Summer Games. The IOC will pick the 2012 site next July. Five cities are in that contest: New York, Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow.

The IOC was rocked in late 1998 by the Salt Lake City corruption scandal, which erupted amid disclosures that Utah’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games had included more than $1 million in cash, gifts and other inducements for IOC members and their relatives.

Ten IOC members resigned or were expelled and a 50-point reform plan was enacted.

The reforms include a ban on visits by members to bidding cities.

“ ‘Panorama’ came to the IOC raising a number of points,” IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said late Wednesday. “But given the lack of factual and concrete information they provided, it was difficult for us to understand how they expected for us to be able to give a reply.

“We urged them, if they had concrete evidence of misconduct, to contact the IOC ethics commission.”

She added that the IOC also last week offered the program a live interview with its president, Jacques Rogge.

On Wednesday, however, the IOC decided to refer the matter to the ethics commission, also created after the Salt Lake scandal. Because of the ethics referral, it now remains uncertain whether Rogge can, or would, appear on the show.