Olympic investigators recommend 7th expulsion

The Olympic Web site links to the full text of the IOC's findings http://www.olympic.org/

3 other members exonerated in Salt Lake scandal

March 12, 1999
Web posted at: 9:42 p.m. EST (0242 GMT)

In this story: Kim still under investigation Coles resigns Very serious, less serious warnings Allegations against Wallwork Expulsion process Salt Lake budget cuts RELATED STORIES, SITES

NEW YORK (CNN) -- An investigating commission recommended the expulsion of Paul Wallwork of Western Samoa in connection with corruption in Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics, in a report posted Friday on the International Olympic Committee Web site.

Wallwork is the seventh IOC member that the panel has recommended for expulsion.

IOC investigators also recommended severe censure for the highest-ranking member implicated and for a high-profile delegate from the next Olympic host country.

Kim Un-yong, an executive board member from South Korea and a powerful leader of international sports, and Phil Coles, a longtime IOC member from Australia, barely escaped a recommendation that they be expelled.

Both were told they would be kicked out of the IOC if "similar facts ever occur again."

Kim still under investigation

And while the panel issued a recommendation on Kim, his case remains open. The report said allegations to be further investigated could lead to expulsion "if what's alleged turns out to be true."

Kim, accused of using his influence to land jobs in telecommunication and music for his two children, has suggested he is the victim of a plot to undermine his chances of becoming IOC president.

Had he faced expulsion, he could have provoked vicious infighting at the executive board meeting for the special general IOC assembly next week.

Coles resigns from Australian Olympics

Coles, who resigned early Friday from his paid position with the Australian Olympic Committee, was cited by the Utah ethics panel for accepting some $60,000 in travel to ski resorts and the Super Bowl from Salt Lake bidders.

One of the best-liked members in the clubby IOC, Coles has repeatedly denied wrongdoing but conceded he had been "careless" in handling the lavish perks.

The report agreed.

"The commission considers that Mr. Coles did not, in these circumstances, exercise his best judgment and that his repeated acceptance of benefits from representatives of the (Salt Lake bid committee) should have been avoided," it said.

Very serious, less serious warnings

Former IOC Vice President Vitaly Smirnov of Russia, was recommended for a "very serious" warning in the report from a six-man inquiry headed by Vice President Dick Pound of Canada.

Less severe warnings were proposed for Louis Guirandou-N'Diaye of the Ivory Coast, Willi Kaltschmitt of Guatemala, Shagdarjav Magvan of Mongolia, Anani Matthia of Togo, Austin Sealy of Barbados and Mohamed Zerguini of Algeria.

Three others were exonerated -- Henry Edmund Olufemi Adefope of Nigeria, Ashwini Kumar of India and Ram Ruhee of Mauritius.

"Our objective here is to clean up any improper behavior," Pound told reporters Friday. "We considered each of these cases very carefully."

Allegations against Wallwork

Pound heads the IOC panel investigating the bribery scandal

Pound's ad-hoc commission said Tom Welch, an official of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee, had lent $30,000 to Wallwork's wife.

Both Wallwork and his wife said the loan was made without Wallwork's knowledge.

However, the commission said, "Even assuming that Mr. and Mrs. Wallwork's statements were true, there remains the fact that a $30,000 loan granted by Tom Welch to the wife -- separated or not -- of an IOC member is in itself an improper act."

Expulsion process

The commission earlier recommended expulsion of six IOC members for their actions in connection with the Utah bid.

The IOC will meet in a special assembly March 17-18 to consider the recommendations.

Six members are fighting dismissal: Agustin Arroyo of Ecuador, Jean-Claude Ganga of Congo, Gen. Zein El Abdin Ahmed Abdel Gadir of Sudan, Lamine Keita of Mali, Sergio Santander of Chile, and Wallwork.

They will be given 20 minutes each to defend themselves in front of the assembly before the expulsion vote.

Asked how he would respond to critics who say the new report is not tough enough, Pound defended the panel's recommendations Friday.

"It's not a whitewash at all. It is a very serious rebuke," said Pound. "This is unprecedented."

Salt Lake budget cuts

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While the IOC was rooting out corruption, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee was slashing $17 million from SLOC's $1.45 billion budget.

New CEO Mitt Romney met with the SLOC management board for the first time Thursday. Board members were told that in the future, they will have to buy their own lunches.

To soften the blow, Romney treated them all to pizza.

Romney also announced a hiring freeze, fewer and less elaborate hospitality suites and fewer free tickets to the Games.

The head of the 2002 Winter Olympics is cutting costs for fear the people of Utah could get stuck with the tab for the scandalized Games.

Salt Lake still has to come up with $288 million over the next three years to meet its budget -- and there is serious concern about whether sponsors will contribute a big chunk of the needed money.

Correspondent Greg LaMotte, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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