RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian prosecutors investigating an alleged vote-buying scheme to win Rio de Janeiro the right to host the 2016 Olympics said on Tuesday that the city secured the winning bid despite having the worst conditions to actually host the event.
Prosecutor Fabiana Schneider made that allegation during a press conference detailing Brazil’s joint “Unfair Play” investigation with their French counterparts.
Authorities allege that a group of Brazilian conspirators, led by former Rio state Governor Sergio Cabral, paid $2 million in return for the vote of Lamine Diack, the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations and once an influential member of the International Olympic Committee.