The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended its Brazilian arm amid an investigation into corruption allegations.<\/p>\n
It also suspended the head of Brazil’s Olympic committee, Carlos Nuzman, as an honorary member, and has frozen all its payments to the body.<\/p>\n
Mr Nuzman was arrested on Thursday and is being investigated as part of a cash-for-votes probe linked to the bid for the 2016 Rio Games.<\/p>\n
He denies all wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
The IOC said Brazil’s athletes would not be affected and they will continue to be paid.<\/p>\n
They will also still be allowed to compete in the Winter Games in South Korea in February.<\/p>\n
Leonardo Gryner, the Brazilian committee’s director general, was also arrested on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The inquiry – known as Operation Unfair Play – is being conducted in conjunction with French and US police.<\/p>\n
In September, Mr Nuzman’s\u00a0home was searched<\/a>. He was questioned and had his passport seized.<\/p>\n Brazilian prosecutors believe he acted as an intermediary in an alleged $2m (\u00a31.5m) payment to Papa Massata Diack, the son of an influential Senegalese member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).<\/p>\n It is alleged that this was done to secure the vote of Lamine Diack, who was then serving as the head of the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF).<\/p>\n All parties have denied the allegations.<\/p>\n Mr Nuzman, 72, led the committee from 1995 and headed Rio’s successful bid to host the 2016 Games.<\/p>\n A statement from Mr Nuzman’s lawyer, released last month, read: “The entire journey of the Rio Olympics, from the bid to the closing ceremony, was conducted within the law.”<\/p>\n In June, former Rio State Governor Sergio Cabral was jailed for 14 years after participating in the embezzlement of $64m from construction contracts, including the renovation of Rio’s Maracana stadium, where the 2016 opening and closing ceremonies were held.<\/p>\n French prosecutors announced last year that they were widening their investigation into corruption in athletics to include the bidding-and-voting processes for the\u00a0hosting of the 2016 and 2020 Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"