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Associated Press 19y

Japanese developer suspended from IOC role

BERLIN -- A Japanese developer instrumental in bringing the
Winter Olympics to Nagano in 1998 was suspended Tuesday as an
"honor member" of the IOC.

Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, once listed by Forbes as the world's richest
man, is accused of insider trading and falsifying financial
statements at his company and was arrested in Japan in March.

Tsutsumi, 70, was appointed in 2000 to the IOC post. "Honor"
members are invited to attend IOC meetings but do not have voting
rights.

The three other honor members are former U.S. Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger, Alain Danet of France and former Swiss president
Kurt Furgler. All were appointed by former IOC president Juan
Antonio Samaranch.

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Giselle Davies said
the executive board acted on the recommendation of the IOC's ethics
commission.

"They felt there is enough seriousness and graveness in what
the public prosecutor is investigating," Davies said.

She said the ethics panel would conduct its own inquiry. Any
proposal to expel Tsutsumi would go to the full IOC assembly.

Tsutsumi once led the Japan Olympic Committee and was
Samaranch's close friend. He was a high-profile member of the
Nagano bid committee and a vice president of the organizing
committee.

He owns a major stake in Kokudo Corp., which controls Seibu
Railway and its 85 subsidiaries. He also owns Prince Hotels Inc.,
the Seibu Lions professional baseball team and Seibu Construction
Ltd.

Tsutsumi owns the Karuizawa ski resort, which was used during
the Nagano Olympics as the curling venue. His hotel chain benefited
from the games, and he was a major contributor to the financing of
the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Last August, Indonesian IOC member Mohamad "Bob" Hasan was
expelled after his country's Supreme Court convicted him of
corruption charges.

The IOC executive board recommended in February that IOC vice
president Kim Un-yong of South Korea be expelled in connection with
corruption accusations. He was suspended last year and is serving a
two-year prison term. The full IOC is to vote on his expulsion in
Singapore in July.

Also in Singapore, the IOC is to vote on the proposed expulsion
of Bulgarian member Ivan Slavkov. He was implicated in a BBC
program last year on alleged bid city corruption. Ten IOC members
resigned or were expelled in 1999 in the Salt Lake City bid
scandal.

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