No evidence of Olympic bid corruption - Bach

LAUSANNE - IOC president Thomas Bach stressed on Wednesday there was "so far no evidence" of corruption surrounding bidding for this year's Rio Olympics and the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

French prosecutors investigating corruption allegations against the former head of world athletics have expanded their probe to examine the bidding for Rio 2016 and the Tokyo Games in four years' time.

"We know that no government, no institution, no organisation is immune to these evils of corruption," Bach said following an IOC executive committee meeting in Lausanne.

"In this case, when the first rumours came up we addressed WADA and the French authorities to provide us with the necessary information and so far we have no evidence.

"We are also very proactive in our fight against corruption. We are not waiting to get information, we are looking for this information actively."

French authorities confirmed on Wednesday they had launched an investigation in December over suspicions of corruption regarding the bidding processes for the Olympics in both Rio and Tokyo.

The inquiry is part of the wider investigation into Lamine Diack, Senegalese former president of world athletics body the IAAF, and his son Papa Massata Diack.

"The IOC has done as much as an organisation can do to address the issue of corruption. We have all rules and instruments in place to fight corruption with zero tolerance," said Bach.

"One day after we received the evidence about Mr Diack, we suspended him from his position of IOC honorary member," he added. Diack then resigned from his position at the IOC a day later.

The 82-year-old Diack, who headed the IAAF for 15 years, faces criminal charges in France over allegations that he took more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in bribes from Russian athletes and officials to cover up failed drug tests.

He has been charged with corruption, money laundering and conspiracy and is out on bail.