French police on Thursday raided the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics Committee in yet another probe in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged favouritism in awarding contracts for the Games.
Organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympics said their headquarters had been raided Wednesday by the country's national financial prosecutor.
A judicial source said the raid, which also targeted event management firms, was part of an ongoing probe into alleged favoritism.
The Olympic committee said in a statement to reporters that the office had “obtained all the information it requested”, and that it was “cooperating fully with the investigation, as it has always done”.
Contracts examined
The raid, which also targeted companies involved in putting on the 26 July 2024 Opening Ceremony – Double2, Ubibene, Obo and Paname24 – is part of a probe opened into suspicion of "illegal taking of interest, favoritism and concealment" in the award of several contracts, a source told Reuters.
The probe was opened after raids conducted in June 2023, in connection with previous probes. In those raids, investigators searched the committee’s headquarters in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, as well as Solideo, the public entity that is building the infrastructure for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Olympic committee and Solideo expect to spend 8 billion euros on the Games, and organisers are now the target of at least three investigations into how several contracts have been awarded.
A probe was opened in 2017 into favouritism, followed by a second in 2022, with further charges following an audit by the French anti-corruption agency.
(with Reuters)
