Smoking Guns Tied To IOC Chief

A couple of "smoking guns" have emerged in the Olympic bribery scandal. And for embattled IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, they could turn out to be very expensive guns, indeed.

Correspondent Shauna Lake of CBS station KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City reports that the guns in question were given to Samaranch by the Salt Lake City Olympic Bid Committee. Samaranch said the guns were just standard Browning shotguns worth about $700 apiece.

But now, KUTV has learned that the guns have a value several times the reported figure.

Leon Burroughs, a local artisan, says he was paid $2,000 to design special decorative plates for the guns. He places the guns' value at about $4,700 each. And, he says, they could be worth much more on the auction block, perhaps as much as $25,000 to $50,000.

Burroughs suggested that money raised from an auction be returned to the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee to help offset expected financial losses.

This news comes on the heels of Samaranch's resignation from his post as chairman of Spain's largest savings bank.

On Thursday, Samaranch quit as active chairman of Barcelona-based Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona, which he had run since 1987. The bank named him lifetime honorary chairman.

Samaranch said his resignation was not tied to the bribery scandal, and that he had been considering the move for more than a year.

"Those who think it influenced [me] are wrong," he said. "This decision was taken a long way back."

Bank officials also publicly drew no connection between Samaranch's resignation and the Olympic scandal, which has mushroomed into IOC's most damaging crisis in decades.

But the Spanish daily El Pais reported that the bank's board had been increasingly concerned about possible repercussions the IOC's troubles could have on Samaranch's public image.

Samaranch, a 78-year-old Spaniard, has run the IOC since 1980. He has repeatedly rejected calls for his resignation as IOC chief amid claims that members involved in choosing sites for Olympic Games had accepted bribes.

Four IOC members have resigned and five more are on the brink of expulsion over the scandal surrounding Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

Samaranch, whose term lasts to 2001, has said he would quit only if he loses a vote of confidence at a special IOC session in March.