The IOC suspended the head of the Rio Games "after his arrest on bribery and fraud charges linked to a bid vote-buying scandal," which he denies, according to Martha Kelner of the London GUARDIAN. Carlos Nuzman, 75, was involved in a commission organizing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but has been removed from the role after Brazilian police accused him of "involvement in alleged bribery of IOC members to vote for the Rio Games during campaigning" in '09. Because he is president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), that body has also been suspended, "meaning any IOC payments are frozen and its right to vote on Olympic-related matters is revoked." Brazilian police revealed 16 solid gold bars weighing 1kg each were found in a depository in Geneva and alleged they were "among Nuzman's hidden assets." Nuzman is accused of "acting as a middleman" between Brazilian businessman Arthur César de Menezes Soares Filho, nicknamed "King Arthur," and former IAAF President Lamine Diack. Soares allegedly paid £1.2M into company accounts controlled by Diack's son Papa Massata Diack "to sway a band of African IOC voters" (GUARDIAN, 10/6). REUTERS' Miller, Fonseca & Grohmann reported the IOC said in a statement that Nuzman would provisionally lose all the "the rights, prerogatives and functions" deriving from his IOC status. It added, "This decision shall not affect the Brazilian athletes. The IOC will accept a Brazilian Olympic Team in the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018 and in all other competitions under the umbrella of the COB with all rights and obligations." The COB said that it did not immediately have any comment (REUTERS, 10/6).
