Zubernis under investigation

  • 2012-12-12
  • From wire reports

VILNIUS - The Lithuanian National Olympic Committee on Dec. 6 said it was seeking additional information over a former top official’s involvement in the London Games’ ticket scandal before deciding whether to take legal action, reports AFP. It said it had already made a request to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has accused former secretary-general Vytautas Zubernis of “tarnishing the reputation” of the Olympic movement.

In a statement, the Lithuanian NOC said it wanted to get “all the information gathered in a journalistic investigation,” an apparent reference to a June expose by Britain’s Sunday Times of the illegal sale of tickets for the London Olympics.
“Having received and examined it, the committee will decide on further actions concerning Zubernis and the authorized ticket reseller,” it said.

Zubernis was among six officials who have been implicated in supplying black market tickets for the Olympics, held in the British capital this July and August. The five others were from Greece, Malta and Serbia.
In October, Zubernis bowed out after 12 years in what is one of the most senior posts at the Baltic State’s NOC after its president.

There have been no public suggestions that his decision was related to the ticket scandal.
The IOC ethics commission on Dec. 5 said that Zubernis had agreed “to act on the request of a third party to purchase tickets with a view to reselling these,” and “thereby failed to respect the IOC code of conduct.’
It described Zubernis as a “recidivist,” noting that the NOC and its authorized ticket reseller - a Lithuanian travel agency - had already been reprimanded for breaching the rules during the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010.