Olympic commission’s secretary denies ‘tarnishing’ role in tickets sting

The Malta Olympic Commission's secretary-general Joe Cassar - held by the International Olympic Commission's ethics commission to have "tarnished" the games over his suggestions to undercover journalists how to skirt rules on ticket sales - is 'strong denying' the accusations against him. 

Cassar was said to have tarnished the Olympic Games in a conversation he held with two undercover journalists from the Sunday Times of London, posing to be ticket resellers, by discussing a contract for the Sochi games and suggesting how to circumvent the rules for selling tickets. At one point, MOC chairman and judge Lino Farrugia Sacco was also present for the talks.

Every national committee is entitled to a number of Olympic tickets, which under specific rules can be resold by ATRs.

The MOC secretary-general is insisting that national committees have every right to choose their own authorised ticket resellers and what compensation they receive. He also claimed that while ATRs are vetted by the IOC, Cassar insisted on knowing who the beneficial owner of the ATR was to run his own checks.

In a statement by his lawyers Edward Zammit-Lewis, a Labour candidate, and Andrian Camilleri, Cassar said he did not know that the undercover journalists did not have good intentions.

"He was informed that they wanted to speak about the possibility of becoming an (authorised ticket reseller) ATR and it was with that frame of mind that our client went to this meeting and entered into this conversation. Furthermore the representatives gave our client false names; cards and made reference to a false webpage (which was actually found online) which seemed to be regular," Zammit Lewis.

The two journalists told Cassar they were ready to pay £60,000 (€74,000) to act as the official ATR for the Sochi winter Olympics.

"In fact, the MOC had already received similar offers (of much lesser amounts) in this regard and therefore the offer in question was interesting to the MOC in the light of the amount of the offer involved which would be entirely re-invested for the benefit of sports in Malta," Zammit Lewis said.

He said Cassar never asked for any funds, nor negotiated ticket prices. "It was the interlocutors who came up with the price and our client never questioned it or try to increase it in anyway."

Cassar was said to have "explained to the interlocutors that to act as ATR would mean entering into various complex agreements with the IOC and the relative Organising Committee of the Winter Olympics in Sochi."

"Our client in fact directed the interlocutors to speak to the competent persons in this respect. At no point did Mr Cassar take responsibility to sign any agreement of any sort and in any case this would have been something that would have to be discussed and approved at executive level."

Cassar was specifically asked by the undercover journalists what mark-up resellers would be entitled to, and whether the prices are actually verified.

Cassar is claiming that when he suggested a 20% threshold for ATRs, this was in line with official conditions that mark-ups cannot exceed 20%. "When asked whether the prices of the ATR's are checked on, our client replied that if the prices are specifically advertised then the prices would be checkable whereas to his knowledge there would also be the possibility of package deals where the specific price ticket would be incorporated in the whole package.

"It is therefore quite clear that our client was not in any way trying to sell tickets to the interlocutors. Our client in no way ever suggested to these representatives to effect mark-ups which are higher than the thresholds imposed by the IOC. This shows that our client was not giving information on how to circumvent the official procedures."