Carlos Nuzman, the chairman of Brazil's Olympics Committee (BOC) has announced his resignation on 11 October, Wednesday.
Nuzman was arrested on 5 October, Thursday. He was accused of a two million US dollar vote-rigging scandal to get the majority from International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the selection of Rio de Janeiro as the host of 2016 Olympics Games. After taken into custody he was questioned by authorities and his passport has been seized.
He was accused of a two million US dollar vote-rigging scandal to get the majority from International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the selection of Rio de Janeiro as the host of 2016 Olympic Games. After being taken into custody, he was questioned by authorities and his passport was seized.
IOC has terminated Nuzman's membership and suspended BOC as well. The accused was a part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games coordination committee but IOC removed him from his position on 6 October, Friday.
According to Reuters, the 75-year-old denied influencing the selection, however, he announced his temporary resignation from the BOC last week.
On Wednesday, his prosecutor Sergio Mazzillo read one official letter at the BOC's general meeting. There Nuzman has stated that he would not be returning to his position as he has to concentrate on the legal matters first.
"Given the necessity to totally dedicate myself to my right to defend myself, I resign completely from my position as Brazilian Olympic Committee chairman and as the honorary member of the general assembly," Nuzman said in the letter, as quoted by Channel NewsAsia.
Channel NewsAsia also mentioned that in September a Brazilian official pointed out Nuzman as the "lynchpin" of the entire Olympic Games scandal.
On the other hand, according to authorities, the former Rio governor Sergio Cabral has initiated the scandal. He is currently serving 14 years and two months imprisonment term for receiving bribe from a construction firm.
Authorities alleged that a businessman Arturo Soares from Cabral's administration supposedly played the role of a middleman in the scandal.
However, investigators said that the bribery amount that Nuzman paid for Rio's selection has gone to two well-known personalities. Papa Massata Diack, the son of Senegalese IOC member, and former world athletics chief Lamine Diack might have received the payment three days before the selection by the contractor Soares.
