SOCHI — More than 6,000 unpaid builders involved in the construction of the Olympic facilities in Sochi have had their arrears cleared, the International Olympic Committee has said.
IOC officials conducted an investigation into the construction companies that were working in Sochi, and those that failed to pay their employees have been fined and ordered to pay compensation, it said.
"I think they investigated some 500 companies, all the companies that they could identify as having been involved in the construction, and 6,175 workers have been compensated so far," IOC communications director Mark Adams said Monday.
Adams added that Russian authorities have been very helpful, ensuring that all the migrant workers who helped the country prepare for its first Winter Olympics are paid.
"I would say the Russians have done quite a good job of actually making sure that people are being paid, and money is being transferred outside the country, as it should be," he said.
Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak promised that workers employed to help construct the Sochi 2014 infrastructure would get 2 million rubles ($60,000) in unpaid wages.
IOC president Thomas Bach said earlier that he believed all industrial issues had been resolved.
With a total spend of $51 billion, the Sochi Olympics are on course to be the most expensive in history by some measures, although that spending includes infrastructure not directly used for the Games. Russian officials say only $6.4 billion of directly competition-related costs should count.