Preparations for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games could be delayed because of legal wrangling over the status of Turin’s Olympic Committee, and hamper the gathering of much-needed funds, said Turin’s Mayor Monday.
Reuters reports that documents obtained when finance police raided organizers’ offices last week to establish whether the committee should be registered as a private or public company, are being analyzed, and Turin Mayor Sergio Chiamparino told Reuters, “if they find that it’s public, it would need to comply with all the rules for public companies.
“That could complicate and delay a lot of its work, because the decision-making process would be longer”.
Chiamparino said the committee’s financial problems had prompted prosecutors to take a closer look at the private company’s legal status.
Earlier this month organizers said it was about 180 million euros ($239 million) short in its budget due to a lack of sponsorship deals and lower ticket sales forecasts. Chiamparino said, “it’s certainly not good for their image. But it’s a budget error, it’s not as if someone ran off with the cashbox”.
Turin 2006 officials now hope to get 70 million euros through sponsorship deals with state-controlled companies such as energy group ENI and utility Enel, and are counting on a 50 million euro grant from the government.
The Mayor said, “the rest of the money is a more delicate issue” adding the committee could transfer responsibility for some services like transport to the municipality and ask the government for more help.
