First Vancouver Olympic Scandal?
It’s troubling that the IIHF is doing it’s own investigation – of their president.
National Post: The International Ice Hockey Federation says it will investigate allegations the head of the Vancouver 2010 Co-ordination Commission received secret commissions on marketing deals made for the IIHF.
Rene Fasel, the president of the IIHF, and a member of the IOC’s executive board, denied allegations published in a Swiss newspaper, SonntagsZeitung, that he benefitted from marketing deals with a company owned by a longtime friend.
The Zurich-based newspaper said that since 2004 Mr. Fasel had been involved in secret transactions related to sponsorship contracts for the World Championships.
The newspaper named Infront Sports, which is the exclusive marketing partner for the IIHF, and said that the company had paid 400,000 Swiss francs (about $413,000) to a company owned by a childhood friend of Mr. Fasel.
Former business partners and competitors of Mr. Fasel also confirmed the accusation to the newspaper, saying a corporation connected to Mr. Fasel had collected commissions between 2004 and 2008.
Mr. Fasel has been the chairman of the Vancouver Co-ordination Commission since Vancouver won the bid for the 2010 Olympics in 2003.
He is also a member of the IOC’s co-ordination commission for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, and is on the IOC’s marketing and medical commissions.
With the money at stake (now approaching $6 billion), I’m sure this is the first of many to come. Remember the Calgary Winter Game ticket scandal?
May 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
People that think the IOC is not corrupt are living in a fantasy world.