2nd Member Quits Olympic Panel

The International Olympic Committee delegate from Libya resigned Friday, the second member of the international body to step down in the Salt Lake City bribery scandal.

IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch told The Associated Press that Bashir Mohamed Attarabulsi submitted his resignation in person Friday morning.

The resignation came one day before a special IOC commission meets to conclude its inquiry into the Olympics' biggest corruption scandal.

Samaranch said Attarabulsi, an IOC member since 1977, stepped down because of revelations that his son had received college scholarships at Utah schools from Salt Lake City boosters.

"I accepted his resignation and I thanked him for his 22 years as a member of the IOC, what he did for sport in his country and for us," Samaranch said in a telephone interview. "He's a good man."

Attarabulsi's son, Suhel, has said he received tuition at Brigham Young University and other Utah schools, plus $700 a month for expenses. On his application to BYU, the address he listed was the Salt Lake bid committee offices.

Finland's Pirjo Haeggman became the first IOC casualty of the scandal when she resigned Tuesday. She was implicated because her former husband got jobs through Olympic bidding committees from Salt Lake City and Toronto.

Samaranch said he didn't rule out further resignations this weekend.

He said 13 members were implicated in the IOC's investigation into cash payments, college scholarships, free medical treatment, lavish gifts and other inducements related to Salt Lake's winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

A federal grand jury is looking into the Salt Lake City scandal, and state officials have called for release and review of the state committee's financial records.

With two resignations now in hand, Samaranch said seven other IOC members face possible expulsion from the committee unless they step down. Four others face possible warnings for minor violations.

The six-member inquiry panel, headed by IOC vice president Dick Pound, has found that the payments and gifts to members totaled almost $800,000, with some members receiving more than $100,000 each. At a news conference Thursday in New York, Pound apologized to athletes and fans for the scandal.

Some of the implicated members are expected to defend themselves in person before Pound's commission Saturday. On Sunday, the IOC executive board will recommend expulsions of members and propose ways of overhauling the entire Olympic bidding and selection process.

Samaranch has called a special IOC assembly for March 17-18 to vote on expulsions and ratify the new site-selection procedures.

Members who choose not to resign will be suspended pending a vote of expulsion by the full assembly, where a two-thirds majority vote is required.

By STEPHEN WILSON