Former UN leader named as IOC ethics chair

Sep 14, 2017 - 6:15 PM Former United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has been elected ethics commission chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The South Korean Ban, 73, replaces Youssoupha Ndiaye of Senegal whose term has ended. He was proposed by the IOC executive board and approved by the IOC Session in Lima for a four-year term with a 74-4 majority.

Ban was UN secretary-general from a decade between 2007 and 2016 and has had a close relationship with the IOC which in 2009 was granted permanent observer status at the UN. He has delivered a keynote address at a past IOC Session and also been Olympic torch bearer.

"I believe that ethics is essential to the success of any organisation," Ban told the IOC Session.

"That is why I did everything possible to strengthen the culture of ethics at the United Nations. I promoted transparency and accountability in every way I could, and I tried to lead by example."

Ban takes the job at a time when the IOC is under fire again after its Brazilian honorary member Carlos Nuzman was arrested in connection with a corruption probe around the awarding of the 2016 Rio Games.

French authorities are also looking into payments around Tokyo's election to host the 2020 Games, and the dealing with the Russian doping affair has also tarnished the image of the IOC.

The IOC and its president Thomas Bach said they were awaiting details from the Brazilian police on the issue before launching an ethics probe.

But there have also been growing calls for the IOC to be more proactive and not only react to unfolding events - including from long-time IOC member Dick Pound.

St Lucia's IOC member Richard Peterkin warned at the session Thursday that the IOC is "betrayed by continual acts of corruption," calling for stronger ethics checks for new members.

Audit committee chairman Pierre-Olivier Beckers started his report by insisting it was "urgent that we restore credibility."

Source: AAP