Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Rio de Janeiro, July 5: Former Rio de Janeiro governor Sergio Cabral, in court testimony on Thursday, said he had paid $2 million to purchase votes in order to ensure the 2016 Olympic Games to be hosted in the sprawling Brazilian city.

According to Al-Jazeera news reports, Cabral told a judge the funds were moved to Lamine Diack, the ex-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and has been used to purchase some nine votes.

However, it was impossible to immediately reach Diack or the legal team of his on Thursday evening.

Arthur Nuzman, the chief of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and the bid’s main organizer, introduced an envoy of Rio to Diack in 2016 and asked the envoy to do payments before 2009 vote that saw Rio declaring victory over Tokyo, Madrid, and Chicago, Cabral has told a judge.

“Nuzman came to me and said, Sergio, I want tell you about the president of the International Athletics Federation, IAAF, Lamine Diack, he’s someone who is open to taking bribes,” Cabral said.

Nuzman was charged by Brazilian prosecutors in October 2017 over the charge of bribery of worth $2 million to ensure Rio host the 2016 Olympics. The trial is ongoing. Cabral stated he is innocent.

Prosecutors in Brazil also charged Diack for bribery charge, though he also reiterated he was innocent.

Cabral has told Judge Marcelo Bretas Nuzman had assured him the process would work out as Diack contains history of such money-laundering and bribe-taking practices.

“I said, Nuzman, what are our guarantees here? And he said, ‘traditionally he sells 4, 5, 6 votes. There is a risk that we don’t get through to the second round (of voting),” Cabral said.

He said Diack guaranteed some six voted for around $1.5 million and came back to offer further if he gets paid an additional $500,000.

 

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