To win the bid for the 2002 Winter Games, Salt Lake Bid Committee members were apparently winning friends on the International Olympic Committee by shuttling key officials to Lake Powell, Moab and Jackson, Wyo. -- all on official state government airplanes.
The Deseret News has learned that on at least eight occasions in 1994 and 1995, the Salt Lake Bid Committee used state planes to shuttle IOC delegates, sports federation officials and Games organizers to favored vacation spots."There were no instances where taxpayers paid for those trips," said Vicki Varela, spokeswoman for Gov. Mike Leavitt, who has been actively campaigning to restore Utah's scandal-tattered image.
"The state plane was used by the Olympics people for purposes of economic development, but in every case the cost of using the plane was invoiced and the bid committee reimbursed the state."
Among the IOC officials on the trips were Anton Geesink of the Netherlands, Alexandru Siperio of Romania, Walther Troeger of Germany and Jim Easton of the United States.
It is not clear from the flight records, but it also appears Vladimir Cernusak of Slovakia (or a family member) and David Sikhulumi Sibandze of Swaziland, or a family member, went in the trips.
Top Salt Lake bid officials and their spouses, as well as officials from Salt Lake City, the Utah Sports Authority and various sports federations officials also participated, records indicate. Even one news reporter went along.
Morley Myers, a London-based journalist who has covered the Olympics since 1968, went on a Salt Lake Bid Committee trip to Lake Powell in May 1995.
"It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I didn't get any shotguns or anything like that, but I didn't have a (IOC) vote," Myers said. He was the international sports editor for UPI at the time.
Myers said visits to scenic spots unrelated to the Olympics are typical. "It's like when Manchester (England) bid; people were taken to London. . . . It has nothing to do with the Olympics at all, but it's part of the wrapping."
Varela said Leavitt did not know the state planes were being used by the Salt Lake bid committee. But she was making no apologies for the practice.
"The bid committee was a group that has a clear statewide economic development role, and as a group it would have had access to the state planes as long as there was proper reimbursement and as long as the use of the planes did not conflict with other urgent state purposes," she said.
As-yet-unidentified officials in the Department of Community and Economic Development were "in the loop," she said.
Varela said it would be "highly unusual" for the state planes to be used by other private entities engaged in economic development purposes, but she added the Olympics are an endeavor with statewide benefits.
Allowing the bid committee to use the state planes, Varela said, was a reflection of the "state's clear commitment to the Olympics and the economic development benefits, so long as they complied with very strict stipulations."
All of the trips were scheduled directly with the Aeronautical Operations by bid committee officials, and reimbursement checks were sent to the comprtoller's office at UDOT.
The state planes are typically used by the governor and his Cabinet members to attend official meetings.
Prostitution rumors
On the allegation that SLOC officials provided prostitutes to IOC delegates, state officials are now saying they became aware of the prostitution rumors more than a year ago -- long before the bribery scandal erupted in late 1998.
John Fowler, appointed by Leavitt as the state Olympic coordinator, met with top SLOC officials in October or November 1997 to discuss rumors that bid organizers had provided prostitutes to International Olympic Committee delegates.
"There was a meeting with John Fowler and SLOC principals where the rumors of improprieties were discussed," Varela said, "and John was told (by SLOC principals) that the rumors had already been investigated and they could not be documented."
At least two of those principals at the meeting then "did some more checking to make sure they were on solid ground, and they said they were comfortable that the rumors could not be documented," Varela said. Fowler accepted those findings at face value.
The allegations about prostitutes are now being investigated by the SLOC Ethics Committee.
"To my knowledge, there is not yet any solid evidence to support that allegation," Varela said. "We are waiting for the report of the ethics board, and until then we simply do not know."
Varela said those present at the meeting included SLOC attorney and senior vice president Kelly Flint, SLOC financial officers Gordon Crabtree and Jerry McClain, and representatives of the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.
McClain, who served as an interim chief financial officer for the organizing committee, said Wednesday he could not recall any meeting on the allegations.
"I don't remember that," McClain told the Deseret News. "Unless I thought it was so absurd I automatically dismissed it from my mind . . . I certainly didn't do an investigation."
McClain said he left SLOC last fall due to health problems. He had been hired to replace Gordon Crabtree, who resigned as the organizing committee's senior vice president of finance, was working at that time as a SLOC consultant.
Crabtree declined to comment when reached Wednesday, but a source told the Deseret News that Crabtree did not attend the meeting with Fowler. Crabtree's assignment at the time included lobbying the Legislature on Olympic issues.
The source, who is involved in the Olympics, said the rumor of prostitutes being secured for members of the IOC visiting Salt Lake City had been around for years.
"It's just one of those things that kept coming up," the source said. "I've seen nothing in the records that would indicate there's any truth to it."
Flint could not be reached for comment.
Varela said the subject of the meeting was primarily the rumors of prostitution. She was unaware if the controversial scholarship program in which family members of certain IOC delegates received payments was discussed.
"You have to remember several things," Varela said. "The principals at SLOC, particularly (CEO and President) Frank Joklik, have known about a scholarship program for a long, long time."
In fact, Joklik met with several legislators in early fall of 1997 to explain the scholarship program. Joklik has maintained he knew about the scholarship program, but not that it provided scholarships to family members of IOC delegates.
That became evident after a letter was leaked to a Salt Lake City television station in November 1998. In that letter, Johnson informed a relative of an IOC delegate her scholarship would not be renewed.
"That letter established for the first time that scholarships went to IOC relatives," Varela said. "That's the first time Frank Joklik or anyone (at the state level) knew about it."
Joklik and senior vice president Dave Johnson both resigned last week, although Joklik is remaining on the job until a replacement is found.
State fair woes
In another development the state Department of Community Economic Development office Wednesday has confirmed that De Chezeuil Rignaul, a stepdaughter of Ecuadoran IOC delegate Augustin Arroyo, was employed by the department in 1992. She worked with the Utah State Fair as a temporary employee.
The director of the Department of Economic Development at the time was Stan Parrish, who later became a member of the SLOC Board of Trustees. Parrish is no longer on the board.
Payroll records indicate Rignaul, who goes by Nancy Rignault, received $2,277. The paychecks were received between Aug. 14 and Sept. 25, 1992.
Because she was a temporary employee, no personnel file was kept. "We don't even know her birthdate or where she was from," said Deborah Lindner, spokeswoman for DCED.
The acknowledgment comes after state officials had initially claimed their investigation had revealed no evidence that an IOC family member had been employed by state government.
"We had heard the Arroyo name and searched that name in our records and couldn't find it," Lindner said. "After the New York Times came up with Nancy Rignault name, we found a similar name but without the 't' on end of name and with a different first name."
Former SLOC chief Tom Welch told the Chicago Tribune that after Rignault's employment with the state she worked for the bid committee. When that didn't work out, he helped fund her education in Texas. Arroyo has told reporters that none of his family worked for the bid committee or received scholarships.
Four different entities are now investigating the bribery allegations: the United States Olympic Committee, the IOC, the U.S. Justice Department and the SLOC Board of Ethics. The IOC has completed its investigation, and Associated Press reported as many as eight IOC delegates could be expelled.
The Board of Ethics had been scheduled to report to the SLOC Board of Trustees on Thursday, but that meeting has been indefinitely postponed until the report is completed.
Under investigation are allegations that bid organizers gave scholarships to family members of IOC delegates, made payments of cash and expensive gifts to IOC delegates, and provided prostitutes to at least one IOC member.