• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Police search Turin Games committee offices

Posted on: Friday, 13 January 2006, 06:12 CST

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's financial police have searched the offices of Turin's Olympic committee as part of a probe into consultancy contracts less than a month before the Games start, sources close to the investigation said on Friday.

Turin prosecutors are probing contracts that the organizing committee TOROC has signed with consultants on different projects, the sources said.

Police had no immediate comment and the TOROC declined to comment.

Organizers of the Games, which will run from February 10 to 26, have faced a series of cash crises over the past year or so, prompting several visits by the financial police.

They are due to approve a rejigged budget on Monday to overcome the latest shortfall in funds. Friday's searches did not seem related to the budget question.

The sources said no-one had been placed under investigation, and prosecutors had not defined what kind of crimes they were looking for. The sources said the probe examined whether the contracts were regular.

Financial police have also gone to the offices of 10 people and companies in different cities in Italy that acted as consultants, confiscating contracts, the sources added.

More than a year ago, financial police carried out several searches of TOROC's offices, seizing documents after a shortfall in sponsorship funds left a multi-million euro hole in the Olympic budget.

TOROC has had to rework its budget again over the past few weeks after the government cut public contributions. Its board was due to approve the new accounts earlier this week, but postponed the decision until next Monday to clarify some details on how to fill the gap.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category