(3/15/99)
Are missing documents in the Salt Lake Olympic scandal evidence of a
coverup?
Former SLOC boss, Tom Welch says they are. Others say he's wrong.
The exchange happens as the scandal takes center stage in Switzerland.
News Specialist Nadine Wimmer has the story.
The IOC meetings in Lausanne could determine the future of the games, and
the fate of some major Olympics players.
That's what we're waiting to find out, as allegations in Salt Lake and
Sydney, Australia continue to feed the scandal.
IOC members have arrived in Lausanne, Switzerland to determine the fate of
more delegates under fire.
It's the most serious corruption scandal in the games' 106-year history.
Their meetings come
just as investigators in Sydney, Australia admit there's evidence of violations
in their bid process, too.
The report shows Sydney organizers gaves trips, expensive gifts,
scholarships,and even a $27,000 dinner.
Organizers there called the IOC's rules deficient in many respects.
Tom Sheridan, of the Independent Bid Inquiry, says, "As you might be aware,
bidding to host and stage the Olympic games is highly competitive. The main
objective is to obtain the respect and friendship and ultimately the votes of a
majority of IOC members. Given that objective, it would have been difficult if
not counter-productive to provide less than first-class hospitality."
Now there are new allegations surrounding Salt Lake's own bid process.
For the first time, Tom Welch has publically discussed a box of
documents destroyed before the investigation saying
essentially those missing files demonstrate others, including Governor
Leavitt, knew about olympic bribes.
When asked about the missing files, a member of the lawfirm that
aknowledges accidentally destroying them
challenges Welch, saying the files contained meeting minutes that were widely
distributed.
Members of the Ethics Committee, that mentioned the missing files in
their report,
responded, their sense of the missing documents, is that they weren't
crucial to the investigation, but routine meeting minutes.
