No corruption found in Games preparation
By Liu Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-06-07 00:28

No corruption has been found anywhere in Beijing's preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, a senior supervision official with the organizing committee said yesterday.

The committee has also received no complaints of corruption from the public, Gu Yueren, director of Supervision and Audit for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), said yesterday.

Hotlines and e-mail contacts have been available to the public to report corruption during Olympic preparations.

Gu spoke to China Daily at the Second Consultation of the Public Integrity Education Network, which began on Sunday.

Twenty-six experts from 18 countries and regions took part in the consultation that ends today.

Keong Tan Tay from the Singapore International Foundation said yesterday that Olympic corruption has to do not only with money, but is also a political issue related to China's national image.

Gu agreed, adding that Beijing Olympic organizers continue to face a risk of corruption because the sums involved in the preparation are so large.

"Preparation for the Games was a test of the use of proactive prevention methods to avoid any corruption," he said.

The system for corruption prevention established by Beijing Olympic organizers has so far proved effective, Gu said.

He said the organizing committee would ensure the equality and transparency of the Games and accept supervision by the public.

Overseeing of staff work, financial management, purchasing, marketing and venue construction was strengthened through supervision and auditing, the official said.

Auditing has been carried out twice a year since the start of the project. From 2006 until the games are held, auditing will be held four times a year.

BOCOG officials were forbidden from taking part in negotiations between BOCOG and prospective partner companies they had previously worked for.

Delegate at the consultation Fredrik Galtung -- a Norwegian -- said yesterday that it is necessary to learn supervision skills from the two most recent Olympic events in Athens and Sydney.

Gu agreed but said, however, that since BOCOG is the first Olympic organizing committee ever to establish its own special supervisory department, it could find no corresponding partner from previous games to communicate with.

"We co-operated with Tsinghua University on researching supervision in previous Games," Gu said.

The Games will officially start on August 8, 2008.