As of: February 6, 2024, 11:11 p.m
By: Stefan Schmid, Niklas Kirk
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In France, the financial prosecutor's office has started an investigation against the Olympic OK boss.
It's about disregarding salary caps.
Paris - Less than six months before the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in Paris, the person in charge of the Olympic organizing committee is apparently threatened with legal trouble.
Initially, the French news agency
AFP
reported , citing a source close to the case, that an investigation was launched last week against the head of the committee, Tony Estanguet.
He has now confirmed that judges specializing in financial crime opened an investigation against him last week.
Investigations against Tony Estanguet?
The Olympic organizing committee was astonished
The background to the investigation is an investigative research from last October.
The research showed that the 45-year-old used a trick to avoid the salary cap that applied to him, which is why the investigation is now intended to provide clarity in the case.
The upper limit results from the status as a charity, which the organizing committee (Cojop) also holds.
The organizing committee itself expressed
its astonishment at the events in response to an
AFP query on Tuesday (February 6).
After the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) opened the investigation, the Paris Criminal Police Department is already in charge of the investigation.
For the Cojop, the question of any misconduct does not arise.
The remuneration of the president of the organizing committee is “strictly regulated”.
At the same time, it contradicts the view that Estanguet is even subject to a salary cap for managers of non-profit organizations.
Unclarified salary structures?
The French justice system is apparently investigating Tony Estanguet.
© picture alliance/dpa/Kyodo
Is the Olympic OK boss subject to a salary cap?
According to further information provided by the committee to the
AFP
, Estanguet received an annual salary of 270,000 euros before taxes and bonuses until 2020.
However, according to the opposite opinion, this would contradict the rules for a non-commercial organization, in which salaries are capped and can be a maximum of 10,300 euros per month.
This leads to the accusation that Estanguet may have deliberately circumvented this upper limit.
According to the newspaper
Le Canard Chainé,
he is said to have founded a company that charges the Cojop, which he manages, for “non-commercial services”.
The issue of invoicing seemed to have been known and sensitive for years.
In a report from 2021, the French anti-corruption agency AFA is said to have already taken up the case of Estanguet's company, pointing out the "atypical structure" within the framework of a charity organization.
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Before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris – suspected of corruption as early as 2023
The investigation that has now been carried out is not the first headline from the Olympic organizers away from the sports venues.
The committee's premises and those of the Solideo construction company were searched as early as June 2023.
The background was allegations of corruption due to the awarding of the games, as well as the awarding of lucrative construction contracts and service contracts.
(
nki/sch/sid
)