Atlanta bosses show expenses

But in Washington, a congressional panel that requested the Atlanta report said it wanted to know more, and planned to delve deeper.

8220;We8217;re anxious to see the lay of the land,8221; said Rep Fredupton, chairman of the house commerce subcommittee that is running the inquiry. He said investigators would arrive in Atlanta as soon as today.

The commerce committee already has been investigating the Salt Lake scandal, which included allegations of free scholarships, medical care and job offers for IOC members and their families. The congressional investigators decided to examine Atlanta8217;s bid for any abuse of the system and potential fraud.

8220;This is not a witch hunt,8221; Upton said. 8220;Hopefully Atlanta will wind up pretty clean.8221; The report, the first detailed look at Atlanta8217;s bid finances, did not contain any bombshell revelations, and some of the potential rules violations involved IOC members already expelled or censured in various Salt Lake City investigations.

Billy Payne, who headed the Atlanta Olympic Organisation, said the report established 8230; 8220;That we8217;ve acted with integrity and honesty.8221;

Still, Payne refused to release the documents behind the report. About 1,400 boxes of documents at the center of a legal battle between his organisation on one hand and the Georgia attorney general and the Atlanta journal-constitution on the other.

Payne says the papers are private property of a private organisation. The attorney general and the newspaper say the Olympics were a public event and its records should be opened.

Released by the Georgia Amateur Athletic Foundation, the report outlines how most of the 7 million raised for the 1996 bid was spent, including an accounting of IOC travel, receptions for IOC members and individual and group gifts.

The report shows the biggest beneficiary was the Republic of Congo. At the request of Jean-Claude Ganga, one of six IOC members expelled after the Salt Lake scandal, the African country received more than 30,000 in sports equipment and infrastructure in 1990 from Atlanta bidders and their associates. Bidders also spent nearly 15,000 for two teen-age tennis players from the Congo to attend an exclusive Florida tennis camp two months before Atlanta won the vote.

Atlanta bidders also violated the IOC8217;s 200 limit on individual gifts 38 times for a total of 15,165.88, the report showed. Four gifts exceeded 500, including a bulldog 875 and a carburetor kit 948.

Another donation included a 25,000 gift to the South African non-racial Olympic committee, an anti-apartheid organisation seeking to get South Africa back into the Olympics. And the Atlanta group sent a used bus costing 10,310 to a children8217;s programme in Lima, Peru. It was reimbursed for the vehicle.

Total donations came to 78,703.40, and the report said there was no evidence of direct or indirect cash payments to IOC members.

The report shows six IOC members brought two or more companions on trips to Atlanta that were financed by local bidders. IOC rules limit members to one companion on such trips.

In several instances, IOC members showed up with children or other family members, Payne said, and 8220;it was just southern hospitality. It wasn8217;t like we were going to turn them away.8221; The report did not break out excess travel costs.