Robert Eringer, a former security adviser to Prince Albert, has reportedly written to IOC President Jacques Rogge to claim that he violated bidding rules in the build-up to the vote in Guatemala City in July 2007.

Eringer alleges that the Prince accepted expensive gifts and trips from Putin, then the Russian President, and Sergei Pugachev, a Kremlin banker, the Independent on Sunday reports today.

These allegedly included a polar expedition, a fishing holiday, a state dinner and a three-bedroom "dacha".

Eringer claims that several months before Albert voted for Sochi building begun on the dacha in the grounds of Roc Agel, his private estate in the mountains behind Monaco, and was a personal gift from the Russian state.

Shortly after Sochi were awarded the Games - beating the favourites Pyeongchang by 51 votes to 47 - Albert travelled to Russia as a guest of Putin, staying in an opulent eighth-century fortress in St Petersburg and going on a fishing trip together on an island in Lake Tere-Khol.



The 52-year-old Prince, who represented Monaco in bobsleigh at five consecutive Winter Olympics from 1988 to 2002, has been a member of the IOC since 1985.

None of the allegations Eringer makes are new but it is the first occasion that someone has officially complained to Rogge about them.

In a Californian affidavit submitted to the IOC, Eringer claims that as the Prince's intelligence adviser from 2002 to 2008, he became aware of a "growing invasion of Russian organised crime and corrupt officials pouring into Monaco".

He claims several of the Prince's aides developed business interests with "Russians of high Government position and individuals suspected of involvement with Russian organised crime".

Eringer describes Pugachev as a "member of Vladimir Putin's inner circle" who was trying to develop business ties with Prince Albert to "buy Monégasque nationality".

Eringer, a former undercover FBI operative, has taken Albert to court in California with a demand for €360,000 (£331,000/$476,000) in wages and severance pay.

A spokesman for the IOC told insidethegames: "We take note of the allegations - and understand that there is an ongoing court case between Prince Albert and a former employee - and therefore we will at present refrain from further comment."

Last month the IOC announced that its Ethics Commission had begun investigating allegations made by BBC's Panaroma involving Cameroon's Issa Hayatou.

Panorama alleged Hayatou - and two other senior FIFA members voting on who were awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups - took bribes during the 1990s.

FIFA dismissed the allegations and Hayatou was allowed to retain his position on the Executive Committee, which controversially awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

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