Greek Olympic committee president denies black market ticket sales

Greek and Serbian Olympic officials have denied they were involved in selling
black market tickets to the London Games.
The IOC is investigating
allegations in Britain's The Sunday Times that officials and agents in several
countries were caught selling tickets for up to 10 times their face
value.
The Greek Olympic Committee issued a statement denying any wrongdoing
by its president, Spyros Capralos.
The Sunday Times quoted Capralos as
telling undercover reporters posing as illegal ticket sellers that he had
"pulled strings" with London organising chairman Sebastian Coe to obtain extra
tickets. The paper said Capralos admitted that demand had actually been very
low, and that many of the tickets were subsequently sold on to people outside
Greece for profit.
The Greek committee called the story "untrue and
misleading" and said Capralos's comments, which were filmed using a hidden
camera, were presented "in a misleading way". It noted that the London
organising committee had already denied that extra tickets were requested from
Coe.
"The whole process was totally transparent and in accordance with the
laws of the Greek state," the Greek statement said. "Therefore, there can be no
issue on creating a 'black market' by the HOC which did not buy any tickets
whatsoever."
The Greek committee accused the British newspaper's reporters of
"violating all principles of journalistic ethics" and claimed Capralos's
discussions with them focused on the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
In
Belgrade, the general secretary of Serbia's Olympic committee, Djordje Visacki,
also denied wrongdoing, saying national bodies were not in charge of the tickets
"because the distribution of all tickets is entirely in the hands of an official
distributor who has direct contract with the organisers of the Olympic Games".
Visacki was mentioned by the British paper as trying to facilitate the sale of
black market tickets.
The IOC ethics commission has asked The Sunday Times
for all of its evidence.
While the full probe is not expected to be completed
until after the London Olympics, the IOC could suspend any implicated officials
and bar them from attending the Games.
Source: AP