Investigators search Paris Olympics headquarters in corruption probe

Police on Tuesday searched the Paris 2024 organizing committee’s office in connection with two investigations, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s office said. The committee said it will cooperate in the investigations. Officials began the first probe in 2017 into possible conflicts of interest, embezzlement, and favoritism involving several contracts awarded by the committee, according to the prosecutor’s office. Police opened the second investigation in 2022 to examine contracts awarded by the committee and SOLIDEO, the public body responsible for the infrastructure of the games. Police on Tuesday also searched SOLIDEO’s offices.

Have other Olympic committees been investigated in the past? In 2021, former Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Arthur Nuzman was sentenced to more than 30 years in jail for buying votes for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics. Japanese officials charged multiple people with bribery linked to the 2021 Tokyo Games. The Paris 2024 organizers said transparency and social justice are key goals in the planning process for next year’s games.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew about why some dignitaries boycotted the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.