PARIS: Police stormed the Paris 2024 Olympic headquarters on Tuesday, just over a year before the quadrennial sports event’s opening ceremony.
Olympic construction sites
Raids were carried out at the committee’s headquarters, known as Cojo, as well as at the offices of Solideo, the body in charge of the Olympic construction sites. Prosecutors (PNF) confirmed to AFP that the raids were authorized in connection with two distinct ongoing investigations. Prosecutors’ spokesperson said the investigations involved “illegal conflicts of interest, misuse of public funds, and favoritism.”
The first investigation, which involved anti-corruption and financial crime investigators, was launched in 2017 and concerned a series of contracts signed by “several powerful decision makers linked to the Games, notably the Cojo and their predecessors GIP 2024 (the bidding committee),” according to the prosecutors. The second investigation was launched in 2022 and assigned to the BRDE, the Paris police’s financial brigade.
They are investigating allegations of conflict of interest and favoritism. The PNF responded after the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA) expressed concerns about multiple deals involving Cojo and Solideo. A source connected to the case says it includes “consultancy contracts” on “different topics.” Another source told AFP that one of the two investigations revolved around Edouard Donnelly, Cojo’s executive director of operations and a service provider for the Games through his company RNK. Cojo and Solideo are “cooperating fully with the investigators in order to facilitate their investigation.”
