Brazil’s Olympic Committee Head Is Detained in Bribe Inquiry
5, 2017
RIO DE JANEIRO — The head of Brazil’s Olympic Committee was detained on Thursday as part of an investigation into allegations
that bribes helped secure the selection of Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Summer Games.
Marcelo Bretas, the federal judge who ordered their arrests, determined
that investigators had enough evidence to establish that the two men "acted directly and actively in an unlawful negotiation" to persuade members of the International Olympic Committee to back Brazil’s bid in 2009 to host the games in Rio de Janeiro, according to a court decision ordering their detention.
Nearly two months after Rio’s selection was announced on Oct. 2, 2009, Mr. Gryner sent the elder Mr. Diack a message apologizing for the delay in "fulfilling the last portion of our agreement." Mr. Gryner explained
that the "sponsor" for "this last portion" of the agreement "is having problems with its transfer and we are trying to help them." Mr. Diack seemed irritated the next month as he pressed the Brazilians to pay up.
Prosecutors also say that Sérgio Cabral, a former governor of Rio de Janeiro State, played a key role in the plan to offer bribes to secure the Games.
Mr. Diack — the son of Lamine Diack, a former head of the global governing body of track
and field — has been accused by French prosecutors of money laundering and corruption.
The court decision includes copies of emails discussing bank transfers exchanged in late 2009 between Mr. Gryner
and Papa Massata Diack of Senegal, who was then a member of the International Olympic Committee.