(ATR) The IOC Ethics Commission is believed to be considering its first-ever case against an Honour Member, Japanâ??s Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, who was arrested this in week in Tokyo on suspicion of fraud and insider trading.
Reliable sources indicate that the Ethics Commission has received information about Tsutsumiâ??s case, pending a possible recommendation that he be suspended.
Tsutsumi is one of four Honour Members of the IOC, a category initiated in 2000 that also includes Alain Danet, Kurt Furgler and Henry Kissinger. Fiat patriarch Giovanni Agnelli held the title until his death two years ago.
Tsutsumi was recognized for his involvement with the Olympics in Japan and his support of the Olympic Museum. He played a major role in Naganoâ??s successful campaign for the 1998 Winter Games.
While the only privilege conferred upon the Honour Members is a seat at the IOC Session (but no vote), the position is still subject to the IOCâ??s ethics rules.
Tsutsumiâ??s arrest involves charges unrelated to his IOC honorific. He is suspected of falsifying figures for one of his companies for many years and then selling his stock before the fraud was revealed last year, which sent share prices plummeting. He could face prison terms of several years if convicted.
It will be up to the IOC Ethics Commission to decide whether Tsutsumi, now in jail, has broken the rule stating that members â??must not act in a manner likely to tarnish the reputation of the Olympic Movement.
Tsutsumi, 70, once considered the worldâ??s richest man, has had a long interest in the Olympics and sport. He served as the first president of Japanese Olympic Committee when it was re-constituted in 1989. He was president of Japanese Ski Association and owned the Seibu Lions baseball team. In 1992 he led the Japanese delegation into the stadium at Albertville for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Games.
His name is inscribed on the wall of donors for the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.
More on Tsutsumi and the weekâ??s news about the Olympics in the March 4 issue of Around the Rings.Com, for subscribers only.
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