An internal investigation by the U.S. Olympic Committee into its role in the scandal surrounding Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Games has called into question testimony given to Congress by two members of the IOC.

New concerns are being raised by the chairman of both the House and Senate committees that have already held hearings into allegations that Salt Lake City bidders tried to buy the votes of International Olympic Committee members with cash, gifts, scholarships, trips and other inducements.At issue is whether the two members of the IOC from the United States, Anita DeFrantz and Jim Easton, were truthful when they testified before the two subcommittees that they were not aware of the gift-giving going on.

"There are perhaps some discrepancies that are in their testimony. Fred has some concerns, and we're looking into it," said Dave Woodruff, spokesman for Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., the chairman of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

Upton told National Public Radio in an interview aired Thursday that "the answer that both individuals gave was that they really weren't aware of any gifts that were out there. This report that we have shows evidence to the contrary and you know it just . . . continues to be a very troubling situation."

A spokeswoman for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation said the committee chairman, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is taking a careful look at the testimony for inconsistences as well.

"The committee is continuing to review the report and the hearing record. Chairman McCain takes allegations of witnesses misleading the committee very seriously and will examine this matter," the spokeswoman, Pia Pialorsi, said.

The report compiled by the USOC's Washington, D.C. law firm stated that Paul Wallwork, the former IOC member from Western Samoa, wrote to Easton asking for USOC training assistance for a Western Samoan boxer.

Easton attached a memo to the letter, stating, in part, "I believe Paul is a supporter of Salt Lake City, and anything the USOC can do will assure us one more vote." When questioned by the attorneys conducting the investigation for the USOC, Easton said he did not think such funding would be improper.

Wallwork was one of the IOC members ousted by his peers in the scandal.

Investigators also apparently are looking at a comment made by DeFrantz about being told by other IOC members she missed "the big birthday party," their description of the gifts given by Paris; Birmingham, England; and Barcelona in connection with the bids of those cities for the 1992 Summer Games.

They are not, however, focused now on her knowledge of scholarships provided to the children of IOC members, according to a source close to the congressional committees.

DeFrantz said reports linking her to the scholarships are inaccurate. The USOC report cites an Oct. 14, 1998, letter received by DeFrantz from Lamine Keita, an IOC member from Kenya who was ousted in the scandal.

Keita's letter requested help finding a scholarship for his son to attend graduate school in the United States. The son, Moriba, had already received more than $97,000 in tuition assistance from Salt Lake bidders at Howard University in Washington, D.C., from August 1993 to February 1997.

DeFrantz told the USOC's attorneys that she told both bid committee Vice President Dave Johnson and Lamine Keita that scholarships for graduate school were difficult to obtain and that the son would need to get a loan. She forwarded the letter from Lamine Keita to the USOC's then-international relations director, who also lost his job in the scandal.

"I did not know what the Salt Lake City bid committee was up to until the (SLOC Board of Ethics) report was released. Period. They did not tell me what they were doing. I take great exception to someone trying to destroy my reputation," DeFrantz told the Deseret News.

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The USOC had tried to keep the report from being made public. It previously had been released to a special commission formed to investigate the vote-buying allegations, as well as to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is conducting a criminal investigation.

"We're disappointed with the leakage of this report," said USOC spokesman Mike Moran. "The more than 120 people who sat down and talked with our attorneys had an expectation of confidentiality." Moran said there was little new in the report.

"I don't believe it contains new news. It contains more detail on previously mentioned subjects," he said.

Congress has threatened to take away the IOC's tax exempt status as well as the hundreds of millions of dollars raised from the sale of Olympic television rights to American networks. In December, Upton's committee will hear from IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch about the progress of reforms.

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