Paris Olympics organisers in turmoil after police raid headquarters

PARIS: Police raided the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday (Jun 20) just over a year before the opening ceremony of the quadrennial sporting showpiece.

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.

Prosecutors (PNF) confirmed to AFP that they had authorised the raids in connection to two separate ongoing investigations.

A spokesman for prosecutors said the probes concerned "illegal conflict of interest, misuse of public funds and favouritism".

The first investigation was launched in 2017 involving the anti-corruption and financial crime investigators concerning a series of contracts signed off by "several powerful decision makers linked to the Games, notably the Cojo and their predecessors GIP 2024 (the bidding committee)", said the prosecutors.

The second investigation was opened in 2022 and allocated to the BRDE, the financial brigade of the Parisian police.

They are looking into suspicions of conflict of interest and favouritism.

The PNF acted after the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA) raised red flags over several deals signed off by Cojo and Solideo.

According to a source close to the case it involves "consultancy contracts" on "different topics".

Another source told AFP that one of the two investigations surrounded Edouard Donnelly, executive director of operations for Cojo who is also a service provider for the Games via his company RNK.

Cojo and Solideo said they were "cooperating fully with the investigators in order to facilitate their investigation".

The IOC said they had taken note of the raids.

"We have been informed by Paris 2024, that they are cooperating fully with the