French Olympic committee head guilty of corruption

A criminal court convicted the president of the French Olympic Committee on corruption charges today.

Henri Serandour, also a member of the International Olympic Committee, given a three-month suspended sentence.

He was accused of giving two lucrative jobs to a communications company that had hired his wife, former swimmer Catherine Poirot.

Serandour, 69, could be suspended by the IOC following the guilty verdict in the trial, which began in June.

Serandour, an IOC member since 2000, could join former sports minister and Olympic champion Guy Drut as the second French member of the Olympic governing body to be suspended on corruption charges.

Suspicion fell on Serandour for awarding the company contracts for the renovation of the committee's website and the creation of a mural with the photos of 600 French Olympic medalists.

In the case of the internet site, bids were sought only after the Court of Auditors criticised the procedure. The company, Pleyades, won the contract, but had allegedly already been contacted before bids went out.

Drut, who won the 110-metre hurdles at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, was given a 15-month suspended sentence in October 2005 and fined for benefiting from a fictitious job at a construction company.

In a widely-criticised decision, President Jacques Chirac pardoned Drut, who is also a politician, opening the way for his return to the IOC. Drut was reinstated a week ago but barred from chairing a commission.