The head of the NOC of Ukraine was at the center of an international corruption scandal
Former Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral, accused of corruption, told Brazil's Federal Court that he bribed the president of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine, Serhiy Bubka, and eight other people during the vote to select the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
This was reported by the Canadian website GamesBids.com.
According to Cabral, during one of the meetings in August 2009, the then head of the Brazilian National Olympic Committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, introduced him to the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Lamine Diack. Nuzman allegedly said that Diack could provide Rio de Janeiro with “five or six votes” for $1,5 million.
It is believed that the payments were made through the son of the IAAF president, Papa Massata Diack.
Cabral claims that in September 2009, Papa Diack said he could provide nine votes, but he needed another $500. Cabral promised the money.
Among the IOC members who were willing to sell their votes, Cabral also named four-time gold medalist from Russia Alexander Popov.
According to Cabral, votes were bought only to get through the first round of voting. Rio de Janeiro's bid to become the capital of the Olympic Games has won the competition after three rounds of voting.
On July 5, Bubka wrote on Twitter that he denied the accusations.
“I completely reject all false statements by the former governor of Rio State, who is currently serving a long prison sentence for corruption,” he wrote.
The Games in Rio de Janeiro took place from 5 to 21 August 2016. Cabral has now been found guilty of nine corruption charges and is sentenced to 198 years.
In 2015, Diack was arrested for concealing the facts of doping by athletes from Russia and was placed under house arrest. As part of the investigation, French judges also issued an arrest warrant for Papa Massata Diack in 2017. He is wanted by Interpol.
The head of the Ukrainian NOC has found himself at the center of an international corruption scandal.