Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has been accused of wasting budget money during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and may face dismissal, Russian business daily Vedomosti said on Monday.
According to a report published by the Russian Audit Chamber on Friday, Russia spent a total of 6.2 billion rubles ($200 million), both from budget and non-budget funds, on and at the recent Olympics, Vedomosti said.
The report showed Mutko spending much more during his stay in Vancouver than he was allowed to spend as the country's chief sports official. Particularly, his hotel accommodation cost 1,400 Canadian dollars a day, about 10 times more than the law permits, the paper said.
In addition to this, the former head of Russian football's governing body and ex-Zenit St. Petersburg president was given 97 breakfast vouchers worth 4,800 Canadian dollars during a 20-day stay at the Olympics, which would mean he had five breakfasts a day.
The minister has denied the allegations, describing them as "speculation" and "nonsense," Vedomosti said.
"Why do those who want to accuse me of something not interest themselves in how much the French [sports] minister's accommodation cost?" he was quoted by the paper as saying.
The Russian team finished this year's games with its worst Winter Olympic medal tally in history, winning just three golds and finishing 11th in the medal count.
After the Games, President Dmitry Medvedev urged senior sports officials responsible for the failure to "make a courageous decision" and resign from their posts.
Russia's Olympic Committee head Leonid Tyagachyov followed the president's advice and turned in his resignation two days after Medvedev's statement. Mutko resisted heavy pressure to resign on the grounds that Russian skiers "won't race quicker if someone is fired."
Vedomosti quoted a source close to the presidential administration as saying Mutko would be probably sacked following the Audit Chamber's report and criminal cases would be opened against him and other officials accused of wasteful spending.
Amir Gallyamov, a member of the sports committee of the Russian parliament's upper house, told the paper that Federation Council lawmakers would ask Medvedev to dismiss the sports minister.
MOSCOW, July 5 (RIA Novosti)
