Wasn't bribery, Joklik says

What was done to win the 2002 Winter Games wasn't bribery, Olympic bid chairman Frank Joklik testified Tuesday in the trial of bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson.

"I don't consider it a bribe. I never used the word bribe in connection with the bid or what I found out," Joklik told the jury at the conclusion of his testimony as a witness for the government. "I never used the word bribe to describe any activities."

It was the second day in a row that a government witness offered an opinion in court about the case. Monday, Spence Eccles, who served with Joklik on the bid's executive committee, called the trial "ill-conceived" and said no crime had been committed.

Such statements can only help Welch and Johnson, who are charged with fraud, conspiracy and racketeering in connection with the more than $1 million in cash and gifts given to sway the votes of International Olympic Committee members for Salt Lake.

Much of what Joklik said, however, may have boosted the prosecution's contention that Welch and Johnson conspired to hide their dealings from the bid's executive committee, which was charged with overseeing the campaign.

After testifying that he traveled extensively for the bid to meet with IOC members and even accompanied some of them on trips to Lake Powell, Joklik said the alleged wrongdoing was never discussed.

"At none of these gatherings, did I ever hear any comments about handouts, scholarships, about cash being given or activities such as that. I never heard a word at any of these meetings on that subject," Joklik said.

His comments came as Johnson's attorney, Max Wheeler, pressed him about his knowledge of payments to IOC members. He pleaded ignorance, even about payments that continued to be made after he assumed control of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

Wheeler asked if a letter about tuition money being provided to Sonia Essomba, the daughter of the late IOC member from Cameroon, was leaked because Joklik had ordered Johnson and others to "wean those people . . . off the dole from the organizing committee."

Joklik denied any involvement.

"I had no idea Sonia Essomba had any benefits or any favors from the bid committee or the organizing committee," he said.

The letter sparked the scandal after it surfaced as the subject of a report on KTVX Channel 4 in November 1998.