Auditor: Corruption dogging Russia's Winter Games preparations

Feb 6, 2012, 14:37 GMT

Moscow - Corruption is slowing down Russia's preparations to to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and the state should invoke harsh penalties, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Monday.

'It (corruption) must be combated and punished rigorously,' said Sergei Stepashin, head of Russia's national audit agency, in comments to the Sport Express newspaper.

A vice mayor in the Chinese capital Beijing was convicted and sentenced to death for corrupt acts he committed during the buildup to the 2008 Summer Games, Stepashin said.

The total reported cost of Winter Games to be held at Russia's Black Sea resort Sochi and surrounding mountains will be between 30 and 40 billion dollars, Russian sports media has reported.

'The Olympic Games are a social project. They have never paid for themselves, in any country,' Stepashin said.

But the frequent practice of private contractors' conspiring with government officials to build Olympic infrastructure in Sochi, at inflated prices in exchange for kick-backs, must be stopped, he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev complained about cost overruns and the slow pace of infrastructure work during a January inspection of Sochi's sports facilities.

Upcoming alpine skiing World Cup races on the Olympic slopes are seen as a key test of the resort's capacity to handle a top-level winter sports event.

Aleksander Karandin, Sochi vice mayor, said construction was going ahead according to plan and deadlines would be met, according to Sport Express.

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