'THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC Committee has cleaned up its house a little because of the scandals. But the Olympic Council of Asia is still living in the old days when they were treated like kings.' So says a veteran member of the regional body which will later this month start assessing Hong Kong's bid for the 2006 Asian Games. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), which comprises 42 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) which will decide in November whether the games go to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi or Doha in the Middle Eastern emirate of Qatar, has so far escaped the intense scrutiny which its parent body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has been under following a series of scandals last year. But a South China Morning Post investigation has found that a key official of the OCA was embroiled in the controversy relating to the Salt Lake City bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Accusations of perks, patronage and politicking continue to swirl around the organisation. Hong Kong's first encounter with the organisation's bureaucracy over its bid came just last month when one of the OCA's chiefs visited for a round of meetings. Director General Muttaleb Ahmad, a Kuwaiti, changed from his robes into a well-cut suit and seemed to enjoy his stay at the luxury Grand Hyatt. He was invited to Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan Fang On-sang's Barker Road residence for a 30-minute chat and told reporters afterwards that he was impressed with the Government's and sports officials' co-operation on the bid. Diplomatically, he declined to comment on the city's chances against its three rival bidders. No one chose to mention during the visit that Mr Ahmad had been named in an IOC report into the Salt Lake City bid scandal last year. The report said he was paid US$57,600 (about HK$448,000) as one of 'three or four' lobbyists hired to help the city's bid committee in the mid-1990s. There was no suggestion he was involved in any corruption or bribery. 'That is a closed subject,' he insisted, when contacted by the Post at the council's headquarters in Kuwait and asked about the report. Mr Ahmad is the right-hand man of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who was appointed president of the OCA in controversial circumstances after his father, who formerly held the post, was shot dead while defending the royal palace during the Iraqi invasion of 1990. The Kuwaiti sheikh's 1991 election was opposed by East Asian members who said the then 25-year-old was too young for the post, according to insiders. The vote was delayed by six months to heal the rift, but insiders claim the election was fudged to avoid addressing the question of the sheikh's age. It is into this murky world with its 'old boys' network' that the Government will dispatch its Asian Games team headed by Mrs Chan, following today's expected approval of the funding for the bid by the Legislative Council's finance committee. As bidding between the four competing cities for the 2006 Asian Games heats up, the controversial issue of free trips hosted by the bidders for members of the 42 nations which will vote for the winner is rearing its head once again. For years, junkets to far-flung places in the guise of checking out potential sites for the sporting competitions were viewed as one of the main perks of being a member of the Olympic movement. But that was supposed to have stopped after such all-expenses-paid trips were blamed for creating a climate in which other inducements were widely tolerated. After last year's scandal over inducements, offered during Sydney and Salt Lake City's bids for the 2000 Olympics and 2002 Winter Games respectively, the IOC banned all further such visits. Six IOC members were expelled over the Utah city's bid, for offences including taking cash payments worth tens of thousands of US dollars each for themselves or through family members, travel expenses, and a donation for a political campaign. The organisers of Sydney's bid were found to have paid more than US$1 million to African sports development programmes, helped family members to migrate or find jobs, and given out gifts and souvenirs - including personalised photo albums of delegates' visits - in an effort to win votes. Since those scandals, the OCA has followed its parent organisation's lead and amended its constitution to ban most visits by NOC members. It now only allows such trips, by members of its executive board, if there are doubts about the capacity of a bidding city to host the proposed games. But Sheikh Al-Sabah was not eager to see the axing of visits to bidding cities. During a session of the IOC's special reform committee, he was reportedly among those against the new rule. Referring to the tainted Salt Lake City bid, the sheikh said: 'We don't have to kill everybody because of this mistake.' Further controversy over the issue appears almost inevitable after the head of Hong Kong's bid team, former Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands Tony Eason, said the SAR was considering offering visiting Olympic members subsidised hotel accommodation and ground transport. Although details have not been finalised and no invitations have yet been issued, Malaysia has already indicated it will protest against such plans during a meeting of Asian nations in Rio de Janeiro on August 23. Kuala Lumpur is angry at Hong Kong's tentative plans, because the OCA's new ban on trips has already forced it to abandon a US$500,000 plan to fly in NOC members by business class and put them up in luxury hotels for a site visit and briefing on its bid. This was a tactic deployed with great success in its successful bid to host last year's Commonwealth Games. Olympic Council of Malaysia honorary secretary Sieh Kok-chi said there were many uncertainties about the new rule. 'We are still very confused. We are going to meet in Rio de Janeiro and there we can thrash it out in the true spirit of sportsmanship. What we want is uniform rules.' Mr Sieh provided copies of correspondence with OCA President Sheikh Al-Sabah, who said the OCA constitution 'clearly states that their [sic] will be no NOC visits to the candidate cities'. While Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Doha have made it clear they will not be offering formal visits, it remains to be seen whether they will invite voters on an informal basis or use other means, such as tourism associations or airlines, to extend invitations. 'Of course, if anybody is passing through, whether we are bidding or not bidding, of course they are most welcome because we have the Asian culture,' Mr Sieh said. He sought to justify the trips, popular until now. 'Personally, I think it would be a bit unfair to ask them to come and see you and ask them to pay. Why would they want to come? Most of the countries in Asia are developing countries.' He said no number of photographs or brochures could give voters an understanding of the facilities similar to a trip. Mr Sieh said Malaysia had originally intended to invite the NOC members to Kuala Lumpur, all expenses paid. 'They are doing us a favour by coming to examine our facilities. They are not coming for a joyride, they are coming to really evaluate our bid, to see, to confirm that what we have stated is correct, and also to ensure and clarify any things which are not clearly written in the bid document.' Bangladesh Olympic Association general secretary Zafar Imam, who is expected to be a member of the committee evaluating bids, has found himself in demand. He said both Qatar and Malaysia had offered all-expenses-paid trips. 'They said 'Yes, we will pay for everything',' he said, apparently unaware that Kuala Lumpur has now been forced to cancel its plans for expenses-paid trips. But he insisted that he also wanted to visit Hong Kong, whether or not the SAR was prepared to pay for him, in order to ensure his impartiality. If it did not pay, he could get funding from the Olympic organisation, Mr Imam said. The Asian Games selection process also looks set to provoke further controversy after the OCA president recently seemed to abandon any pretence at neutrality by openly backing Doha's bid. 'Kuwait supports Qatar's bid to organise the 2006 Asian Games. We should support the aspirations of Qatar and work for this dream to become reality,' Sheikh Al-Sabah was reported as saying, according to a dispatch from the official Qatari news agency QNA, which was carried by Agence France Presse. The OCA this week wrote to member nations seeking to distance Sheikh Al-Sabah from the comments. A letter from Mr Ahmad, the OCA director general, did not name the sheikh but referred to him as 'President OCA'. 'The OCA would like to clarify that President OCA has on no occasion taken such a stand, now or in the past, and has never made such a statement,' it said. Qatar NOC general secretary Sheikh Saoud Bin Ali Al-Thani suggested Sheikh Al-Sabah was acting in his capacity as a minister with cabinet ranking in the Kuwait government. 'It has nothing to do with the OCA. As OCA president the media asked him, he said, 'As a member of OCA, I am neutral, I am not with anyone.' He came as a member of the ruling family with a message from the emir, not as president.' Sheikh Al-Sabah has proved to be politically controversial. His biggest blunder was to invite Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, igniting a diplomatic dispute which enraged China and strained Japan's relations with Beijing. Mr Lee's invitation was withdrawn. Confusion surrounded his visit to Bangkok two years ago when the head of the Thai military said the sheikh had told him in a meeting that Kuwait would have no problem buying eight F/A-18 fighter aircraft which Thailand had ordered from the US but was unable to pay for. But Kuwait later said it had no plan to buy the aircraft. Sheikh Al-Sabah failed to respond to a series of faxed questions from the South China Morning Post. Glenn Schloss ( schloss@scmp.com ) is a staff writer for the Post's Editorial Pages
