Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine Viktor Korzh has said that the situation with tbe alleged mishandling of tickets to the London 2012 Summer Olympics by the committee's secretary general, Volodymyr Heraschenko, could be a provocation.
"I don’t know the situation, I only heard about this today. I think that President of the National Olympic Committee Serhiy Bubka made the right decision to suspend [Heraschenko]," Korzh told reporters on Wednesday.
"I think we will clarify the situation as soon as possible. And I still hope that this is a misunderstanding. But, of course, if this information is confirmed, he will lose his job and we’ll have to apologize," the official said.Korzh said he did not rule out that "a provocation is possible."
In turn, Vice Premier and Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Borys Kolesnikov, commenting on the situation, said: "Bubka will return from Canada [from the Sport Accord Conference in Canada], hold an official investigation, and answer all of the questions."
According to the BBC, Heraschenko allegedly intended to sell tickets to the London 2012 Summer Olympics on the black market.According to reports, Heraschenko allegedly told a journalist in London, who said he was a ticket tout, that he was distributing the tickets among Ukrainian fans, coaches, and officials, but promised that he would have around 100 tickets left, and said he was planning to sell them.
Later, the official stated that he never planned to sell the tickets in Britain.Bubka ordered an investigation into the case and promised that all tickets to the event received by the national committee will be sold only through official channels.
