Ticket scandal

The sooner the summer, the bigger is the stir over the London Summer Olympic Games scheduled to start in July. At the same time, the sale of Olympic tickets is to be finished soon, and ticket touts will step out of the “shadow,” BBC journalists carried out an investigation the other day into the illegal sale of Olympic tickets. They found that some official sales agents were selling tickets to the touts, which runs counter to the Olympic rules and the British law. The British journalists found that a representative of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) was not averse to selling his tickets “for a gain.” Under the guise of touts, the journalists came into contact with Volodymyr Herashchenko, Secretary General of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee.

BBC’s undercover journalist called Herashchenko and asked whether latter did not mind selling him some tickets. In reply the voice resembling that of Herashchenko said, “As far as I understand, you are a ticket dealer. You are a number-one priority for me. You are the most important person. We will call you. If we have some spare tickets, we will call you.” According to the BBC report, when Volodymyr Herashchenko came to London for a meeting, he found time to meet with the undercover reporter. At the meeting the state official said that his job is to distribute the tickets among Ukrainian fans, coaches, and state officials. “We have other tickets. If they refuse and nobody else buys the tickets, we will have 50 or maybe 100 tickets left.” However, in the video Herashchenko does not openly say that he is ready to sell them, simply, “we have a contact person who can buy them out for me, not look for anybody else.” In the candid video the journalist also asks: “What is the best way to pay?” But one can hear only a fragment of the phrase.

The head of the NOC of Ukraine Serhii Bubka, who was on a visit to Canada, immediately reacted to the incident. He also told Herashchenko about his removal from the office and assured that all the tickets for London Olympic Games would be sold exclusively via official channels. “I have also discussed the situation with the head of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games Sebastian Coe and told him that Ukraine’s NOC is ready for maximum cooperation in any investigation that will be carried out by the British side,” Bubka said.

By Ihor SAMOKYSH, The Day

COMMENTARIES

Sakshi SHARMA, London-based journalist covering Eastern Europe:

“I would say – Such actions from senior officials are unacceptable and against the spirit of the Olympics. Such incidents also violate Ukraine’s aspirations for European integration.”

Bohdan TSIUPIN, a London-based Ukrainian journalist who has worked at the BBC for 19 years:

“The BBC has done its job as befits it. This is an example of the way journalists spot defects and the likely infractions on the part of officials. This is also an example of the role journalism can play in society. Yet this should be followed, naturally, by such an important thing as the rule of law. I know that there are journalists in Ukraine, who work excellently and carry out investigations, but the system does not work: nothing happens after their inquiries. Things are totally different in such countries as the UK, for example, after BBC investigations. Suffice it to recall the investigation into the abuses of British parliamentarians – about how they misused the money that was made available for them to do their duties. After journalists had spotlighted this, criminal cases were opened and the MPs were stripped of parliament membership and punished. It is very important that the law-enforcement and prosecution bodies should do their work after journalists had done their own investigation. If all that the BBC reported is confirmed, the will be an investigation. If certain rules were violated, a person of the rank of Herashchenko, who has been holding office for more than 15 years (if some media are anything to go by), should know this very well. What also inspires hope are the statement and quick actions of Serhii Bubka, President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, who announced in Canada that Mr. Herashchenko had been suspended from office and that in-house investigation would be carried out. I hope that in Ukraine, as in any other normal country, prosecution bodies will use the journalists’ information and do their job.”