Carlos Arthur Nuzman was Brazil’s Olympic Committee president for 22 years before being involved in a corruption scandal.
Brazilian justices of the sixth Panel of the Superior Court of Justice granted habeas corpus to Carlos Arthur Nuzman, 76, former chief of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, who was under preventive detention, on Thursday.
Brazil’s Supreme Court decided on Thursday (October 19th) to release Carlos Arthur Nuzman, former president of Brazil’s Olympic Committee (COB). Nuzman was arrested on October 5th, accused of being part of a vote-buying scheme to have the city of Rio de Janeiro named as the host of the 2016 Olympic Games.
The 75-year-old Brazilian is to stand trial for money laundering, tax evasion, and racketeering, though it’s unclear how long that will take under Brazil’s slow-moving justice system.
Brazilian and French authorities say Nuzman helped direct about $2 million to Papa Massata Diack to win votes to land the 2016 Olympics.
Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice ordered Nuzman’s release, but his passports are being held — he is reported to hold three — and he cannot leave the country. He is also barred from contact with the IOC, the Brazilian Olympic Committee.
Prosecutors investigating the case, dubbed Operation Unfair Play, claim Nuzman and and general director of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, Leonardo Gryner, paid more than US$6 million to International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials in exchange for their votes on choosing Rio de Janeiro as the 2016 Olympic Games city.
The habeas corpus was granted by justices Maria Thereza de Assis Moura, Sebastião Reis, Rogerio Schietti and Nefi Cordeiro. They considered Nuzman’s arrest a disproportionate measure in view of the charges.
