London Olympics use bank guarantees as wheeze to hide cost overruns

3rd October 2008: Projected costs of the London Olympics held in August 2012 continue to balloon. But the organizers have come up with a new wheeze to hide the latest extra cost overruns.

Developers will borrow money from banks and the British government will guarantee the bank will be paid off after the games are finished - and when attention is diverted elsewhere.

Guarantees are being offered to get in money to build the "Olympic Village" - the housing blocs for the athletes - and for the broadcast and media centres, which will be of little value after the event is over.

The banks will add lots of nice juicy fees and charge high interest rates - all of which will add to the costs if and when the banks call on the guarantees after the games. But meanwhile the costs can be excluded from expenditure counted against the latest £9.3 billion budget.

Clever little trick eh!

Update on 5th October: Just to show that chaos is running riot with the characters trying to set up the London Olympics - new reports show that the government is planning to "nationalise" the "Olympic Village" ie build it itself instead of employing a series of middlemen who skim off millions for themselves but still leave the government to pay for it all.

Don't hold your breath. The British government can't take decisions quickly.