LONDON, July 30 (AFP) - The bidding process for the 2012 Olympics faces accusations of corruption after undercover reporters were filmed apparently securing the vote of an International Olympic Committee member through a promised bribe, a report said Friday.
A BBC television crew filmed reporters posing as a London business consortium securing the support of the unnamed IOC member through corruption, The Times newspaper said.
The programme is not due to be broadcast until next week and the BBC has placed a news blackout on its contents, the report said.
London is among five cities on the short-list for the 2012 Summer Games, along with Paris, Moscow, Madrid and New York.
The 124-member IOC, which decides the destination of Olympic Games, has faced corruption problems before, notably allegations of widespread bribery when Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter event.
An IOC spokesman told The Times that it had asked its ethics committee to investigate the new allegations.
"We have urged the BBC to send the ethics committee any concrete evidence that it has," he added.
The London bid committee was swift to distance itself from the activities of the BBC crew, with bid leader and former Olympic champion Lord Sebastian Coe saying he had been "made aware" of the allegations.
"London 2012 has acted properly and ethically throughout the bidding process and we totally support the IOC's decision to refer these allegations to the ethic committee," he said.