The Paris Olympics organizing committee has expressed shock that the wage of its president is reportedly being investigated by the French Nationwide Monetary Prosecutor’s Workplace.
In accordance with French media, quoting the French company AFP on Tuesday, the investigation into Tony Estanguet’s pay was handed to Paris police final week, lower than six months earlier than the Olympic Video games open on July 26.
The monetary prosecutor’s workplace, contacted by The Related Press, declined to remark. Paris organizers stated they haven’t been contacted by investigators and couldn’t affirm a probe is ongoing.
The Video games organizing committee set Estanguet’s pay in 2018 on the finish of its first board assembly. It was then agreed that the previous three-time Olympic canoe champion would obtain an annual pay of 270,000 euros gross, with attainable additional incentives based mostly on efficiency standards that might not exceed 20% of annual wage.
Organizers advised reporters on Tuesday that Estanguet’s pay — which has not risen since 2018 — will not be capped by French legislation.
“We want to remind those that the organising committee president’s remuneration is topic to a strict framework,” Video games organizers stated on Tuesday in a press release.
As president, Estanguet doesn’t have an worker statute throughout the organizing committee and invoices his providers on a month-to-month foundation.
The organizers added Estanguet’s revenue was determined independently, in keeping with the recommendation of a committee “made up of unbiased specialists whose position is to make sure the appropriateness of our remuneration coverage.”
The organizing committee stated Estanguet’s cost phrases had been accepted by France’s Normal Financial and Monetary Management physique, following session with the principle physique concerned within the assortment and distribution of social safety contributions.
“All invoices linked to this remuneration are topic to an annual audit by the organizing committee’s unbiased inside audit unit in addition to an inspection by the remuneration committee,” Video games organizers stated. “These measures aren’t legally imposed however correspond to an method of voluntary transparency. In step with the method we’ve all the time taken in the direction of all oversight our bodies, Paris 2024 is able to reply questions concerning its administration.”
The probe into Estanguet’s pay follows different investigations by monetary prosecutors concentrating on the Video games organizing committee.
In October, the organizers stated their headquarters had been once more visited by French monetary prosecutors investigating suspicions of favoritism, conflicts of curiosity and misuse of funds within the awarding of contracts.
The headquarters had been first searched in June.
Monetary investigators have been zeroing in on 20 or so of the various tons of of enterprise contracts that Olympic organizers have signed as they race to organize the French capital for 10,500 athletes and thousands and thousands of spectators.
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Petrequin reported from Brussels
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games