Updated | Malta’s Olympics official among six who ‘tarnished’ Olympic games

The International Olympic Committee has ordered four National Olympic Committees (NOCs) - including Malta - to discipline officials after the Sunday Times of London's 'sting' led to accusations that they had offered to supply London Olympic Games tickets to the black market.

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According to the IOC Ethics Commission, six officials "helped tarnish the reputation" of the Olympics when they spoke to undercover reporters from the UK newspaper several weeks before the start of the Games.

The IOC named Greek Olympic Committee president Spyros Capralos and head of marketing Nicole Avramidou, Maltese Olympic Committee president Lino Farrugia Sacco and secretary-general Joe Cassar, and the secretary generals of Lithuania and Serbia, Vytuatas Zubernis and Djordje Visacki, respectively.

In its reference to Malta, the IOC report says that by agreeing to take part with Cassar in a discussion concerning the ATR contract for the games in Sochi, "when it was apparent that his interlocutors seemed to be looking for ways to circumvent the official mechanism, Mr Farrugia allowed the journalists to prove their point."

Cassar on the other hand was seen to have agreed to discuss the ATR contract for the games in Sochi "when his interlocutors were clearly looking for ways to circumvent the official mechanism and knowing that some of the tickets could be sold in the Middle East; and finally by explaining which means could be used to get around the mechanism, Mr Joe Cassar helped to prove the point being made by the journalists, namely that the sports world and those who work with it are prepared to violate the rules. As a result, Mr Joe Cassar helped the reputation of the Olympic Movement to be tarnished."

On his part, Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco said that he was not present at the point where Cassar explained the 'means to get round the mechanism' and that he only got to know of this two months later. "The video that was placed on the Sunday Times of London's website was doctored in such a manner to give [another] impression."

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said that the four national Olympic committees must take "appropriate measures" against their officials or face further sanctions, such as the withdrawal of accreditation for Olympic meetings and events.

Owing to the GOC's president's Capralos's high-profile role, he had caused "even greater damage to the Olympic Movement," the Commission stated.

Capralos broke ethics rules "even if the aim was apparently to fund athletes," the ruling added, before insisting that Olympic executives "must behave impeccably". The Commission continued: "(The panel) believes that, if this is not the case, the individuals concerned must draw the necessary consequences."

Under the current rules, the IOC can impose sanctions on NOCs, but not individuals. "We are studying if this could be changed in the ethics code," IOC President Jacques Rogge said.

Adams added that the IOC will look at the process for allocating tickets to NOCs at future editions of the Olympics, and a committee established by the governing body will make recommendations to the executive board next year ahead of implementation for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

The review will "work out whether the shape of the overall process is the right one or whether we need to start again," Adams said.