Brazilian Olympic Committee president arrested on corruption charges
The president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC), Carlos Arthur Nuzman, has been arrested on bribery charges relating to buying votes for the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
Brazilian prosecutors alleged Nuzman spent more than $2 million to ensure the support of International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Lamine Diack ahead of the 2009 IOC session, in which Rio de Janeiro was awarded the right to host the 2016 Games ahead of Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo.
Nuzman, 72, who has headed Brazil’s Olympic Committee since 1995, was detained on Thursday, one month after police raided his home and office on accusations of corruption.
The findings came after a new phase of the ‘Unfair Play’ investigation, arranged by Brazilian and French authorities, which reportedly uncovered an international corruption scheme designed to buy votes.
Mr. Diack, the former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president, was arrested in Paris in 2015 on allegations of accepting bribes and covering up positive doping cases.
Leonardo Gryner, a former BOC director, was also arrested on suspicion of bribery.
