IOC urges Turin organizers to solve problems soon

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- On a day when police inspected Turin's financial records, the IOC urged Italian organizers to sort out their problems soon or risk a crisis of confidence in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Valentino Castellani, head of the organizing committee TOROC, reported to the International Olympic Committee executive board Thursday just hours after Italian investigators combed through Turin documents as part of an investigation into possible financial irregularities.

The committee has not been accused of wrongdoing, but the police action brought further embarrassment to a host city facing a $242 million budget shortfall, political tensions, lukewarm government and corporate support and a shortage of hotel rooms. The games begin in less than 15 months, on Feb. 10, 2006.

Castellani said he reassured the IOC that TOROC will overcome the setbacks. IOC president Jacques Rogge expressed confidence in the organizers but also pressed them to resolve the issues.

"He said it is important to be very quick in solving the problems to give assurance to all the stakeholders," Castellani said. "Otherwise, you risk losing confidence in the outside world."

Gilbert Felli, the IOC executive director for the games, offered a cautious assessment.

"We believe that, by the end of the year if the points are solved, we are confident things will go in the right direction," he said.

The IOC's coordination commission for the Turin Games will visit Turin next week. The next IOC board meeting will be in Turin in February.

Castellani was accompanied by Mario Pescante, the government undersecretary and IOC member who was appointed this month by Premier Silvio Berlusconi as overall supervisor of the games. Castellani felt his job was undermined by Pescante and threatened to resign, but agreed to stay on after the two reached a power-sharing agreement.

Last week, Italian police searched the offices of the agency responsible for constructing venues for the Olympics as part of an investigation into alleged bid fixing for a highway construction project.

On Thursday, the police went to TOROC's headquarters to examine and photocopy documents regarding the committee's bookkeeping. Police said that for now there was no accusation of any criminal offense.

Police also inspected documents at the Rome offices of Italy's national Olympic committee as well as at its regional office in Turin. TOROC and Italian authorities sought to play down initial reports that the committee's offices were raided.

Castellani said TOROC has acted "in full observance of the law."

"There are no specific allegations," he said. "There is no problem at all in my opinion. This is a kind of clarification. I'm glad it's being done. What is reassuring for us is there is no search for anything specific. But this certainly doesn't help us to work quietly."

Castellani voiced confidence that the gap in TOROC's overall $1.7 billion operating budget will be covered. He noted that the $242 million shortfall includes a $72.5 million contingency. The biggest hole, about $119 million, is in unmet revenue from state-owned companies.

On the lack of housing in the mountain areas, Castellani said TOROC had located 1,560 additional rooms for possible use. As a last resort, he said, TOROC will consider using temporary housing among 15 sites, mostly for the Olympic work force.

On Friday, the IOC board will receive a report from the IOC ethics commission on the case of Bulgarian member Ivan Slavkov. He was suspended in August after being implicated in a BBC undercover investigation into alleged corruption in the bid city process.

The board could propose that Slavkov be expelled from the IOC. Any final decision would go to the full IOC general assembly in Singapore in July. A two-thirds vote is required for expulsion.