Berlin Olympic bid scandal

BERLIN (AFP) - The city of Berlin has fired an official accused of seeking to corrupt members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in a bid to win the contest to host the 2000 Olympics.

The Mayor, Eberhard Diepgen, ordered that the contract of Nikolaus Fuchs, president of a company promoting the Berlin bid, should not be renewed, the Senate (city government) said. Mr Fuchs 'showed indiscretion in handling confidential data', it said.

His company, Berlin Olympia Marketing GmbH, was reported on state television on 29 June to have compiled a secret file on all 94 members of the IOC, detailing their sexual tastes, weakness for drugs or alcohol and financial corruptibility. The firm denied the accusations, saying it was researching the officials' backgrounds in order to send them presents of less than dollars 200 ( pounds 105) in line with the Olympic organisation's rules on gifts.