Ing. Mario D. Goijman
To Dr. Jacques Rogge
President of the IOC
To the members of the IOC
Executive Committee
Lausanne, September 22nd 2003
Dear Mr. President,
Dear Members of the Executive Committee,As you know, a criminal investigation is currently being carried out in Lausanne under the responsibility of Judge Cruchet, of the office of the Cantonal Investigating Judge of Vaud, against Mrss Ruben Acosta and Jean-Pierre Seppey, for forgery of documents, disloyal administration and misappropriation of funds.
Such investigation started in Lausanne last February, after I personally filed a criminal complaint with the competent authorities. My complaint was based on the knowledge that I, as a member of the FIVB Board of Administration, had been able to have of some facts. In particular I could realize that the financial report for the year 2000 that had been presented for approval to the FIVB Congress in September 2002 was modified – without informing and without the approval of the external auditors – as compared to the version that the FIVB Board members had received in May 2001.
When I realized that such financial report had been unduly altered, I questioned Mr. Seppey in his capacity of Managing Director of the FIVB, and I questioned the ultimate reasons for such forgery.
You already know the consequences that my queries entailed, with myself being immediately suspended from my functions as of November 2002, and subsequently – because I decided to denounce what was happening to the criminal authorities – the whole Argentine federation and our teams being suspended and sidelined form all international competitions without any justification.
I am not – in this letter – going to point out the reasons why the recent so-called re-integration of the Argentine teams in the competitions organized by the FIVB is in fact a mere illusion. The Argentine Federation’s explanations in that respect had been communicated to you separately, and to the IOC Ethics Commission upon the latter’s request.
In this letter, I wish to address one specific and important question
that has arisen out of the pending criminal case.
In this procedure, the IOC was recently asked to indicate to the Judge
which amounts were paid by the IOC to the FIVB as subsides following
the 1996 Atlanta Games and the 2000 Sydney Games.
The IOC officially answered to the investigating judge that:
(Exhibits A and B)
However, it results from the financial documents produced by the FIVB that – according to the FIVB - the amounts received by the FIVB from the IOC in 1996 and in 2000 were in fact not exceeding CHF 3,613,198.- in 1996, and CHF 13,013.987.- in 2000.
(Exhibits C and D)
It results from these figures a difference of CHF 2’650’000.- in 1996 and of almost CHF 2,200,000.- in 2000, between what the IOC says it paid to the FIVB and what the FIVB says it received form the IOC.
Someone must have kept such sums. As I want to believe that the IOC or any of its officers did not keep them, such sums were – in my opinion – kept by the FIVB president Ruben Acosta – and this is one of the reasons why the presentation of the FIVB accounts in the past was neither transparent nor proper.
Such misappropriation of funds – I consider there have been others - is one of the grounds for my criminal complaint against Mr. Acosta. Because the Argentine federation is suffering from the retaliation of the FIVB, we need the criminal investigation to be carried out and finalized in an expedited manner so as to show that what the FIVB leader is after, is to protect himself, and that is the reason for his ungrounded sanctions to the Argentine officials, Federation and teams.
I know that the IOC wants to respect the independence of the International Federations as separate entities, but also is very well known your strong support towards transparency in the Sport leadership, and this compromise with clean procedures must be enhanced whenever the IOC is involved, with its financial support.
It is my opinion that the Olympic Movement principles make it necessary for the IOC to search transparency, and to assist us in expressing officially its concern and in urging the criminal authority to investigate at a faster pace.
Considering the foregoing, we therefore ask you to officially and without delay confirm your concerns to Judge Cruchet in Lausanne, asking him to clarify the situation in that respect as soon as possible, so as to enable the IOC competent bodies to handle the case of Mr. Acosta as an IOC member, or to solve these case without more delays inside the IOC.
Should you decide not to act, either requesting the Judge in charge that this case be investigated in priority, or to act inside the IOC without delays, I shall have no other remedy but to inform publicly of the situation, because my silence to preserve the Sport Image, is damaging our country, its honest leaders and our sport.
I remain at your disposal for any further information. I thank you for your help in the interest of our sportspeople and look forward to your prompt attention to this matter.
Ing. Mario D. Goijman