New Olympics’ football boss under investigation
(Inside the Games): Issa Hayatou, the African football powerbroker who has twice denied corruption allegations in the past year, has been handed responsibility by FIFA for running the football tournament at next year's London Olympics despite being under investigation by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Ethics Commission. In what will be viewed as a highly contentious choice in some circles, Hayatou has been appointed head of FIFA's Organising Committee for Olympic football tournaments starting with London 2012.
The 65-year-old from Cameroon, a member of the IOC since 2001, has also been appointed to take over FIFA's GOAL project that supports development programmes in poorer nations.
Although Hayatou, President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), was boss of the Organising Committee at last year's World Cup, he is still under investigation by the IOC following claims by a BBC television programme that he received a payment of 100,000 French francs in 1995 from the now defunct marketing company ISL.
Category: Sports