IOC expels six for corruption

IN ONE of the most dramatic days in the 106-year history of the modern Olympics, its ruling body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), expelled six members accused of corruption at an extraordinary general meeting in Lausanne yesterday.

The expulsions followed the allegations of payments of bribes and gifts worth hundreds of thousands of pounds that have rocked the Olympic movement since the end of last year. Each of the six IOC members was accused of receiving money or favours from the Salt Lake City bidding committee that was awarded the 2002 winter Games.

Those expelled were Congo's Jean-Claude Ganga, Ecuador's Agustin Arroyo, Zein El Abdin A Gadir of Sudan, Lamine Keita of Mali, Chile's Sergeo Santander Fantini and Samoa's Paul Wallwork. The case of South Korea's Un Yong Kim remains unresolved.

After the meeting, attended by 90 IOC members, the vice-president Dick Pound, who headed the inquiry into the allegations, said: "We are at the end of a new beginning. Justice has been done." He said the movement was now putting into place a number of reforms.

The IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose position has seemed precarious, won an overwhelming vote of confidence in a secret ballot at the start of the meeting.