More Dubious Payments Uncovered

In 1996, eight months after Salt Lake City won the 2002 Winter Games, a senior bid official wrote a letter to an IOC member’s grandson.

The gravy train was over for Raouf Scally, a student who was told he was receiving his final, $500 payment “to assist you with your needs in Atlanta.” In all, Scally collected 22 checks worth $14,500 from Salt Lake organizers.

On Feb. 16, 1996, Dave Johnson wrote to notify Scally of a change in priorities that didn’t include paying him any longer.

“We have made our best efforts in trying to support you and your education in Atlanta, but after this check we will be in a difficult position to do so,” Johnson wrote.

The letter was obtained by The Associated Press from the extensive file archives at the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. A legal filing number in one corner indicates it was turned over to the U.S. Justice Department under a grand jury subpoena.

Scally was a grandson of Mohammed Benjelloun, an International Olympic Committee delegate from Morocco until his death in 1997.

The Scally letter recalls another Johnson letter that set off the Olympic vote-buying scandal in November 1998.

In that letter, Johnson wrote to cut off the daughter of IOC member Rene Essomba of Cameroon after she received $108,340 in payments while attending American University.

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The Olympic torch will spend a week in California as it winds through 46 states on its way to Salt Lake City and the 2002 Winter Olympics, Games organizers said Monday.

The $25-million run will begin a year from Monday in Atlanta, site of the 1996 Summer Games.

The torch will be in California Jan. 14-20, 2002.

It will be in Chula Vista and San Diego on Jan. 14, Los Angeles on Jan. 15, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo on Jan. 16; Monterey on Jan. 17; the Bay Area on Jan. 18; Sacramento on Jan. 19, and Squaw Valley and South Lake Tahoe on Jan. 20.

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The No. 2 official of the organizing team for the Athens Olympics quit in yet another high-level shake-up leading to the 2004 Games.

Petros Sinadinos resigned as general manager for “personal reasons,” the organizing committee said.