New meaning has been given to the coming winter games

• Major sponsor delays payment
• 2 officials resign, 2 put on paid leave
• Utah scandal could inspire reform
• Outgoing chief gives litany of 'disturbing actions'
• African IOC member involved in Utah land deal
• Related stories and sites

January 8, 1999
Web posted at: 11:09 p.m. EST (0409 GMT)

SALT LAKE CITY (CNN) -- The Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics sunk deeper into the quagmire of a bribery scandal Friday, with revelations of cash payments to International Olympic Committee members and the resignations of the SLOC's two top officials.

But United States Olympic Committee officials say they have been given a commitment by the IOC that despite the scandal, the Games won't be moved out of Utah.

"We have assurances from (IOC) President (Juan Antonio) Samaranch and the International Olympic Committee, and the United States Olympic Committee is 100 percent, totally, unequivocally in support of Salt Lake City putting on the Games in 2002," said USOC President Bill Hybl, who nevertheless called Friday "a dark day."

At a news conference where he announced his resignation, SLOC President Frank Joklik revealed that an internal investigation has turned up evidence that direct cash payments were made to IOC members -- in one case, $70,000.

Joklik

Amid the increasingly negative publicity, USWest, a regional telecommunications company, has delayed sending the latest $5 million installment of its $60 million sponsorship. Company spokesman Michael Frandsen refused to say whether the company would drop its sponsorship altogether.

The SLOC may have to scale back its budget for putting on the Games if fund raising starts to suffer, according to Dick Schultz, the USOC's executive director.

"There are contingency plans in place already in case we could not meet our revenue goals that we would scale back the budget accordingly and keep these Games on budget," Schultz said.

"We would always take a look at renegotiation of certain contracts and arrangements between the SLOC and the IOC if that became necessary to do that to ensure the Games are successful," he said.

In addition to Joklik, the SLOC's senior vice president, Dave Johnson, also resigned. The housecleaning followed a joint session of the executive committees of the SLOC and the USOC. Joklik will stay at the helm until a successor is named.

Two other senior officials involved in the bid process that led to the selection of Salt Lake City as the 2002 Olympic host were put on paid leaves, and the SLOC has stopped $10,000 monthly consulting payments to Tom Welch, who was chief executive officer of the bid committee. He resigned from the SLOC in 1997 after being accused of assaulting his wife.

Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, who attended Friday's meeting with Olympic officials, said the resignations were the only way Salt Lake City could assure sponsors and the Olympic community that the Games will be a success.

"It must be made absolutely clear that the actions of a few do not reflect the values, moral expectations or standards of behavior of this community and state. We deplore it, and we revolt at being associated with them," Leavitt said.

Hybl said the new SLOC chief will likely be a Utahan.

"(It) has to be someone that the state (and) the city have confidence in," he said.

Both Schultz and Leavitt emphasized that the scandal should be the impetus for reform of the IOC bid process.

"This corner of Olympic corruption did not begin in Salt Lake City. But let it end here," Leavitt said.

"There's an opportunity here to probably make some changes and do some things that probably should have been done long before but the evidence wasn't there and available to do it," Schultz said. "So I think there's a possibility here to perhaps make the Olympic movement stronger than it's ever been before."

In addition to the SLOC's internal investigation, the USOC and IOC are probing into the Salt Lake City bribery allegations, as is the U.S. Justice Department.

Joklik said he was resigning because it was "clear that changes must be made in order for the Games to proceed." However, he said he did not know about gifts and cash given to IOC members during the bid process, when he was the volunteer chairman of the civic group behind the bid.

"The acts during the Olympic bidding process that besmirch our reputation break my heart," Joklik said. "It is clear that these disturbing actions were taken in an effort to win friends for the bid."

However, Joklik did not refer to the payments as bribes and said he doesn't believe IOC votes were promised to Salt Lake City in exchange for money.

In addition to direct grants of money, Joklik described a litany of questionable actions by bid officials, including payments for housing, travel and education expenses for relatives of IOC members; expensive gifts and free health care for members and their families; and helping with a land deal for one IOC member.

The SLOC had previously disclosed that it paid $400,000 for 13 scholarships, six of which went to relatives of IOC members. Samaranch also received a gift of two expensive guns, but the IOC president has insisted that such gifts from host committees are a traditional practice. Unlike other IOC members, the IOC president does not have a vote in picking host cities.

In a statement, Samaranch expressed regret about the resignations.

"The IOC wishes to reiterate that it has full confidence in the organizers of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and has no doubt as to their ability to ensure the total success of these Games," he said, adding that he planned to visit Salt Lake City in the spring.

CNN has confirmed reports that an African member of the IOC made $60,000 buying Utah property in an arrangement aided by a member of the SLOC.

Jean-Claude Ganga of the Republic of Congo bought three luxury home parcels in Pleasant View, about 20 miles from the Olympic downhill race course. The September 1995 purchases of $25,000 each were made three months after the IOC awarded Salt Lake City the Games.

Ganga was introduced to the seller, a home builder, by Bennie Smith, a bid committee and SLOC member who spent eight years wooing African IOC members, whose votes were considered crucial for Salt Lake City.

K. Brent Keller, a Weber County home builder, said he built a road to Ganga's land and put in utilities and a storm basin, and Ganga sold the lots for $45,000 each, one in 1997 and the other two in August.

The SLOC's ethics panel is trying to determine the source of the cash for Ganga's investment, a source close to the investigation said on condition of anonymity.

Attempts to reach Ganga in Paris, Brazzaville and Cameroon were unsuccessful. Smith did not return telephone messages.

In other developments in the burgeoning scandal: