(ATR) Paulo Wanderley applauds the International Olympic Committee decision to resume funding to the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) after the committee’s four-month suspension.
"We are very happy with the IOC decision," the new COB president said in a statement. "It is a recognition of the work and effort that the Olympic Committee of Brazil has been doing over the last three months, based on austerity, meritocracy and transparency and in accordance with the IOC's Agenda 2020.
"We are certain that with its new status, the COB is today an example of good governance for sports entities around the world. We will continue to work hard to ratify this commitment to modern sport management."
Wanderley took over for former COB president Carlos Nuzman who was arrested in October 2017 on suspicion of buying votes from IOC members for the Rio 2016 Summer Games. As a result, the IOC chose to suspend Nuzman’s honorary membership and suspend the COB. The IOC cancelled this suspension during its Executive Board meeting in PyeongChang on Feb. 3.
"The IOC has been in close contact with the COB, which has been extremely cooperative and immediately took a series of actions to address the IOC’s concerns," the IOC said in a statement.
The NOC used an independent auditor to help distance itself from the alleged crimes of the previous administration.
"It verified that the COB, as a legal entity, was not involved in any manner whatsoever in any of the allegations/charges against Mr Carlos Nuzman in the framework of the ongoing investigation by the Federal Public Prosecutor in Brazil," the IOC said.
"In the last four months, the IOC had already softened the punishments, but still had frozen about $7 million that the COB should receive," O Globo reports. "According to the Brazilian entity, the expectation now is that in addition to this money the committee will receive about $3 million by the end of this year. The athletes supported by the IOC did not suffer any kind of sanction during the period."
"In addition, changes in status and governance promoted by Paulo Wanderley resolved some issues. In the view of the IOC, COB is within the international compliances," the Brazilian newspaper continued.
Estadao reports that some of the "new COB" reforms including the creation of the Board of Directors and an Ethics Board helped the IOC make its decision. Under the new statutes, 12 athletes will participate in the organization's elections opposed to only the president of the athletes' committee voting. Another point is the signing of the Term of Adjustment of Conduct (TAC) with the Ministry of Sport, which aims to maintain the transparency of the COB in its governance.
According to Estadao "for now, however, the IOC does not comment on resuming negotiations to deal with the gap left by the Olympic Games, which would reach more than $30 million. Nuzman, before leaving the post, pleaded for a rescue by [the IOC], which rejected the aid."
Written by Miguel Hernandez
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