FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Tony Estanguet is the head of the presidency of the organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
JO PARIS 2024 – Hard blow for the French organization of the Games, less than six months from the start. This Tuesday, February 6, the French boss of the Paris 2024 Olympics, Tony Estanguet finds himself in a delicate situation following the opening of an investigation into the remuneration of the president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee (Cojop).
As indicated by AFP this Tuesday, February 6, this investigation was opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) and mainly concerns the conditions of his remuneration in this position. An announcement which did not fail to surprise within the organizing committee, which declared “ discover this information with astonishment “.
Cojop, however, ensures that the remuneration of its president “was very strictly supervised” and that the “payment terms have been validated by the general economic and financial controller, after consultation with the URSSAF “.
Entrusted to the Parisian judicial police, the investigation was launched as soon as ” last week “, according to details from a source close to the matter. For its part, the PNF indicates that it does not want “ communicate at this stage on the existence of a possible preliminary investigation” targeting Tony Estanguet.
Three other ongoing investigations
Until 2020, the former canoe-kayak champion received annual remuneration of 270,000 euros gross, according to figures communicated by Cojop in 2018. This remuneration was, however, likely to change within a limit of 20%, in based on certain performance criteria, Cojop indicated at the time.
But as Cojop is a 1901 law type association, the remuneration of its directors is capped by law at significantly lower levels.
According to a recent article in Chained duckTony Estanguet would have created a company which invoices “non-commercial services” at Cojop, which he directs. Which questions the control of “the reality and quality of services” carried out by the Estanguet company, the newspaper continued in October.
The boss of the 2024 Olympics, who nevertheless wanted Games “ copies » in his country, must grimace at the announcement of this new investigation, the fourth carried out by the national financial prosecutor’s office. Indeed, three other investigations are already underway against the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. They target in particular suspicions of favoritism and misappropriation of public funds during the award of contracts.
In mid-January, a judicial source told AFP that these three previous procedures involved “ on around twenty contracts and several tens of millions of euros “.
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