Police swoop on Turin 2006 office

Valentino Castellani said police reviewed and copied documents

Italian finance police have raided the headquarters of the organisers of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics.

Police inspected documents as part of an investigation into alleged management irregularities, organising chief Valentino Castellani said.

Police said there was as yet no accusation of any criminal offence.

The raid adds further embarrassment for Turin organisers who have been embroiled in a political row over a massive budget shortfall.

Mr Castellani, in the Swiss city of Lausanne for a progress report to the International Olympic Committee executive board, was urged to sort out the issues plaguing the Games' organisation.

Budget gap

Among the hurdles are a row over a 186 million euro ($245 million, £130 million) hole in the Olympic budget, lukewarm government support and a lack of hotel rooms.

Mr Castellani reassured the IOC that his organising committee would overcome the setbacks.

He also sought to play down the raid, saying it was not a criminal investigation.

"It was an ordinary request for information... what reassures us is that they were not looking for anything specific," he said.

Mr Castellani added that the action stemmed from weeks of reports about alleged financial irregularities.

Police last week descended upon Agenzia Torino 2006 - a publicly-funded company tasked with constructing Olympic venues and infrastructure.

That raid was part of an investigation into alleged bid fixing for a highway project, police said.

The Turin Games are scheduled to begin on 10 February 2006.