Olympic Games: Nagano residents sue Samaranch

RESIDENTS OF Nagano, Japan, sued the International Olympic Committee and its president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, demanding the return of 831m yen (pounds 4.2m) in taxpayers' money used in the bid for the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, a court official said yesterday.

Shigeru Tomidokoro, a spokesman for the Tokyo district court, said the plaintiffs were three citizens led by Kaoru Iwata, a former town councillor in Nagano, 112 miles north-west of Tokyo.

Iwata said the lawsuit is "the only way to impeach the injustice" since the IOC and Samaranch will not punish nine IOC members suspected by the Japanese Olympic Committee of violating IOC rules by receiving "excessive" entertainment.

In Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC marketing director, Michael Payne, said he was "slightly surprised" to hear of the suit, given the amount of financial support that the IOC gave the organising committee during the Games.

Japan spent 2bn yen on its campaign to win the right to host the games. Nagano state and local governments put up 831m yen of that total, while the rest came from private or corporate contributions.

The plaintiffs argue that the IOC should not have allowed its members to accept the allegedly "excessive" entertainment knowing that much of the money used to pay for it had come from taxpayers. The plaintiffs want the IOC to pay back the amount taxpayers contributed.

Iwata's group has already sued the Nagano governor, Goro Yoshimura, the chairman of the Japan Olympic Committee, Hironoshi Furuhashi, and the mayor of the city of Nagano, Tasuku Tsukada, to force them to further specify how the money was spent.

Japanese bidders have said they wined and dined visiting IOC officials, entertaining some with geisha. Iwata said Samaranch was given a painting and a sword worth 1m yen by the Nagano bidders. The IOC says it has the painting at its headquarters in Lausanne but denies having received the sword.

There is no limit on the value of gifts to Samaranch because he accepts them on behalf of the IOC and does not vote in the selection of host cities.