European Olympic Committees in support of members caught up in London Times ‘sting’

The European Olympic Committees' executive board has come out in defence of its member committees' highest representatives, who were implicated in an attempt of skirting International Olympic Committee rules on ticket sales, during an undercover sting by the Times of London.

The EOC is claiming the IOC's ethics commission's declarations, in which several members were said to have tarnished the reputation of the Games, might have not been entirely proper.

"The evidence on which the ethics commission formulated its proposals was never made available in a timely manner to those implicated nor made available to the relevant national Olympic committees.

"Given the seriousness of the allegations where reputation damage to senior members of the Olympic family is at sake, the [EOC] committee expressed reservations about the lack of opportunity for those concerned to appear before the full membership of the IOC ethics commission, reservations about the process of entrapment through which evidence was obtained and reservations about the absence of legal representation."

The EOC will also call for the IOC to undertake a comprehensive review to ensure the ticketing process is reform so as to deliver transparency for all NOCs.

The International Olympic Committee ordered four National Olympic Committees (NOCs) - including Malta's - 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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In its reference to Malta, the IOC report says that by agreeing to take part with MOC secretary-general Joe 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, [MOC president] Mr Lino Farrugia Sacco allowed the journalists to prove their point", while Cassar "helped the reputation of the Olympic Movement to be tarnished."

The decision by the IOC's ethics commission led to the Maltese prime minister to call for the resignation of Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco from the bench.

The European Olympic Committees will be making its representations to the president of the IOC Count Jacques Rogge and the president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, to reflect the views of the EOC's executive board and its membership.