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French police raided the headquarters of the Organizing Committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Tuesday morning local time as part of two “preliminary investigations” into the misuse of public funds.
France’s finance prosecutor’s office said in a statement that searches were underway at several locations, including the committee’s main office in Saint-Denis, a north Paris suburb, and the headquarters of Solideo, which is responsible for building the Olympic Games in Paris Paris responsible public body venues.
Prosecutors launched investigations into alleged misappropriation of public funds, favoritism and concealment of favoritism in connection with pre-Games contracts in 2017 and 2022.
“The investigation should take its course,” the Paris 2024 Committee said in a statement, confirming that its headquarters had been searched.
While the Paris 2024 offices were being searched, the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Committee heard a planned report from IOC officials blaming the Paris 2024 organizers for selling new sponsorship deals and quickly selling out the 6.8 million tickets on sale praised .
In. In a press briefing after the meeting, Christophe Dubi, the IOC’s Executive Director, commended Paris 2024 officials for what he called “transparency” and “cooperation” in the investigation, adding that Paris 2024 “took the right attitude ‘ overwhelmed me about how to deal with the problem.
“We have every reason to be confident,” Dubi said, citing both the French investigation and the IOC’s belief in Paris 2024’s ability to host the games.
The raid comes less than a month after Brigitte Henriques, the former president of France’s National Olympic Committee, which organizes the French Olympic team, announced her sudden resignation and called for an internal review following public tensions with other committee leaders.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been an outspoken supporter of hosting the Games, has capitalized on their success, announcing ambitious projects ahead of time, including a plan to clean up the Seine and Marne rivers to make them swimmable.
Financial scandals have rocked the Olympics in recent years, including bribery allegations related to Tokyo 2020 sponsorship.
The Paris Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11 next year.
Les Carpenter contributed to this report.