French investigators are searching the headquarters of the 2024 Paris Olympics organisers in a probe into suspected corruption, according to the national financial prosecutor’s office.
The Paris organising committee said in a statement that a search is under way at its offices in the Saint-Denis suburb of the French capital, and that “Paris 2024 is co-operating with the investigators to facilitate their investigations.”
It would not comment further.
Paris becomes the third straight Summer Games organiser implicated in investigations led by anti-corruption authorities in the French capital.
Vote-buying allegations linked to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Games previously removed several members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from that organisation.
An official with the financial prosecutor’s office said the searches are linked to two investigations based on information provided by an anti-corruption agency.
One of the probes was opened in 2017 – the year Paris was chosen by the IOC as 2024 host – into suspected embezzlement of public funds and favouritism, and concerns about an unspecified contract agreed by the Paris organisers, the prosecutor’s office said.
The other was opened in 2022 following an audit by the French anti-corruption agency.
The prosecutor’s office said that case targets suspected conflict of interest and favouritism involving several contracts agreed by the organising committee and Solideo, the company in charge of Olympic facilities.
The Paris Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11 2024.
The raids unfolded at the same time as the IOC executive board began a two-day meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, expecting to praise Paris organisers for their progress.
IOC president Thomas Bach told reporters early on Monday that the meeting “of course will be about Paris, where we have some good news after the visit of the co-ordination mission and after my visit to France, to President (Emmanuel) Macron, and also the organising committee.”
The IOC said it expects to release a statement on Tuesday about the raids in Paris ahead of a previously scheduled online news briefing once its meeting has closed for the day.
