The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have issued a reprimand and a warning to two members following allegations they were paid kickbacks by the collapsed sports marketing company ISL.
Issa Hayatou, a Fifa vice-president and head of African football, was sanctioned with a reprimand.
Lamine Diack, the president of the IAAF international athletics federation, was not sanctioned but was given a warning.
The actions were announced by IOC president Jacques Rogge at a news conference in Lausanne this evening.
Rogge confirmed the fact both Diack and Hayatou were not IOC members at time of the alleged ISL payments was a “mitigating” factor.
However, he refused to comment on former Fifa president Joao Havelange resigning as an IOC member last week before the IOC’s ethics commission’s decision on him.
Last year, BBC Panorama said Havelange had taken payments of $1million US dollars from ISL.
Rogge told the news conference: “After a proposal of the ethics commission the executive board upheld their decision and issued a warning to Mr Diack and a reprimand to Mr Hayatou.
“It is always sad if you have to discipline colleagues but bear in mind the needs of the organisation. This is a judgement made by the experts of the ethics commission. They are two different decisions for two different acts.”
The action against Hayatou is more serious as a reprimand constitutes a sanction but it will not prevent him taking part in IOC business.
Rogge said: “A warning is not a sanction - a reprimand is a sanction. But the member that gets a reprimand can function normally and is not barred from the IOC, if a member is suspended that’s a different issue.
“It is like if you get a yellow card you can continue to play, get a red card and you have to go out for a couple of weeks.”
The ethics commission were believed to have proposed that Havelange be suspended, but once he resigned from the IOC he was no longer under their jurisdiction.
Rogge said the ethics commission’s reports would not be released as they were “confidential”.