Guy Drut, a Paris 2012 Olympic bid official, said Monday he will step aside if his corruption trial hurts Paris’ bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, reports the Associated Press.
Drut is charged with holding a fictional job at a construction company from June 1990 to February 1993 and allegedly receiving $147,450 in pay.
Drut, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and a former French sports minister, has denied the charges. He risks a five-year prison term if convicted.
Drut said, “if my presence might hurt in any way the Paris candidacy, which is a good candidacy, I would at that moment take dispositions to step aside”.
Jerome Lenfant, a Paris 2012 committee spokesman, said Drut’s trial “doesn’t affect the bid”. He told the Associated Press, “it is up to Guy Drut to comment on the court case”. He added, the trial has “nothing to do with the 2012 bid, so it doesn’t affect the bid”.
The trial is expected to last until early July, but a verdict may not come until the fall.
Delegates are to pick the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games July 6 in Singapore.
Drut is one of 47 defendants in the court case. In his defence Drut said, “I worked for the company Sicra. I was an Olympic champion. The company hired the Olympic champion to sell Olympic equipment”. Drut won a gold medal in the 110 hurdles at the 1976 Olympic Games.
