Lilian Carp, chair of the National Security, Defence and Public Order Committee of the Parliament, claimed the case involving CNOS marketing director Cornel Josan - revealed by insidethegames - was the latest example of why Juravschi "cannot recover Moldovan sport".

The CNOS told Josan to return to Moldova after insidethegames published pictures of him appearing to breach the COVID-19 regulations in place for Olympic officials at the Games by going sightseeing in the Japanese capital.

Josan posted photos on social media of him outside outside the Sensō-ji Temple with locals dressed in traditional kimono and at what appears to be another tourist attraction.

A separate image shows Josan not wearing a mask while inside the Olympic Stadium.

Under the regulations the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 have implemented to help hold the Games safely during the pandemic, sightseeing and other tourist activities are banned.

All Olympic officials are prohibited from walking around the city and visiting tourist areas, shops, restaurants, bars or gyms.

Team officials have also been told to always wear masks, except for when eating, drinking and sleeping.

Josan has claimed he was not attending the Games in his capacity as the CNOS marketing director but as a photojournalist.

The photo at the Olympic Stadium shows Josan wearing an accreditation which clearly states "NOC marketing director".

Josan has claimed the pictures of him with the CNOS accreditation have been doctored, while the CNOS has said he was not part of their official delegation.

But Carp asked why it would be the MOC who sent him home if he was a journalist, and not accredited through his role with the organisation.

"If he is not part of the official delegation, what right do you, CNOS, have to expel a journalist from the Olympic Games?" Carp said.

The CNOS listed Josan as its marketing director on a list of people it was sending to the Games last month, but any reference to the position has since been removed from its official website.

It also confirmed it had expelled Josan from Tokyo 2020, due to conclude on Sunday (August 8).

"On August 3, 2021, the news portal insidethegames.biz published a news item informing that Cornel Josan, the CNOS representative from the Republic of Moldova, violated the anti-COVID-19 rules, based on several photos, published on a social network, from which is inferred that he visited tourist objects, thus violating the anti-COVID-19 rules in force at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games," the CNOS said.

"Following the publication of this information, CNOS notified itself and decided to recall Cornel Josan from the Olympic Games, a fact about which the CIO and the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games were informed without delay."

In a statement issued to Moldovan media, Josan said: "I was not part of the official Olympic delegation of the Republic of Moldova, as it is circulated. 

"Respectively, my presence at the Olympic Games does not fall under the scope of the Olympic Family playbook, but the press book. 

"Thus, from a technical point of view, I did not violate the rules stipulated in the press book."

Tokyo 2020 today reported another 29 new COVID-19 cases among Olympic participants in Japan since July 1, bringing the total in that period to 387.

More than 20 athletes have been ruled out of the Games after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

insidethegames has contacted the CNOS for comment.