Brazilian police have arrested the head of the national Olympics committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, who is accused of conspiring to bribe members of the International Olympic Committee to pick Rio de Janeiro as host of the 2016 games.
Brazilian investigators claim Nuzman helped arrange a $2m bribe to get the games for Rio de Janeiro.
Leonardo Gryner, a former director of the national Olympics committee, was also arrested in a new phase of the so-called Unfair Play investigation, the police said.
In September police raided Nuzman’s home and he was summoned to face questions about how he secured the right to host South America’s first ever Olympics amid suspicions he was a key figure in a bribery scandal. The headquarters of the Brazilian Olympic Committee were also searched.
Nuzman’s lawyer, Sergio Mazzillo, said then his client was innocent.