Police have raided the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics, Report informs referring to Le Monde.
Raids were carried out at the headquarters of the committee, which is known as Cojo, and at the offices of Solideo, the body in charge of the Olympic construction sites, a source close to the investigation told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The reason for the raid was not immediately clear but Cojo said they were "cooperating fully with the investigators in order to facilitate their investigation." This is the first such raid on the organizing committee headquarters.
The searches of their premises were conducted by anti-corruption and financial crime investigators and the BRDE, the financial brigade of the Parisian police, another source close to the probe said.
Two years ago, two reports by the French anti-corruption agency (AFA) highlighted "risks affecting probity" and "conflicts of interests" which it warned could impinge on the "whiter than whiter" image of the Games that the head of the organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, wished for.
AFA inspectors said the procedure for purchases was "imprecise and incomplete" and emphasized that there "exists sometimes potential situations of conflicts of interests which are not overseen correctly."
The raids are the latest drama to affect French sports in the past year.
In May, Brigitte Henriques surprised many by resigning as the president of France's National Olympic Committee. Henriques' departure led the IOC to issue a statement that "calls on everybody to take responsibility so that the internal arguments that have affected the CNOSF these past few months cease." A successor is yet to be named.