Former Rio de Janeiro governor says he paid $2M bribe to host 2016 Olympics

The former governor of Rio de Janeiro reportedly told a judge in court on Thursday that he paid $2 million to secure votes of Olympic committee members in order to ensure that the city would host the 2016 Summer Olympics. 

According to Reuters, Sergio Cabral said he paid the money to Lamine Diack, the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), who then used it to influence the votes of up to nine members of the IAAF.

{mosads}Cabral added that he was told to make the payments to Diack by the head of the Brazilian Olympic Commission, Arthur Nuzman.

“Nuzman came to me and said, Sergio, I want tell you about the president of the International Athletics Federation, IAAF, Lamine Diack, he’s someone who is open to taking bribes,” Cabral said. 

Nuzman has charged by Brazilian prosecutors with paying $2 million in bribes to secure the bid for Rio de Janeiro. This trial is ongoing, but Nuzman has said he is innocent.

The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics was carried out amid multiple high publicized problems, including security issues, the Zika virus and environmental issues.