Even former Salt Lake Organising Committee President Frank Joklik has been interviewed since the US Department of Justice probe into an alleged $1 million vote buying scheme began, The Deseret News reported yesterday.

Joklik voluntarily submitted to an interview in February, said his lawyer, Mark Tuohey.

``Frank's been cooperating with anyone who wants to talk to him,'' Tuohey said. But he also said the interview was ``pretty generic background about the organisation and how it functions.

Tom Welch, Joklik's predecessor at SLOC and the head of the Salt Lake bid committee until he was ousted amid allegations of wife-beating, has not been questioned, according to his attorney, Tom Schaffer.

Welch's name came up last week, when Utah businessman David E Simmons pleaded guilty tomisdemeanor tax evasion.

Simmons admitted in court that he hired the son of International Olympic Committee member Kim UN-Yong of South Korea at the request of the bid committee, then claimed as a business expense the money funneled to him to pay his salary. Simmons said Welch asked him to hire John Kim for the job.

The case is just ``the first charge in the investigation,'' said Myron Marlin, the spokesman for the US Department of Justice.

While Welch hasn't talked, plenty of others have been called in by the FBI and other agencies, including two members of the city council, Joanne Milner and Deeda Seed, who are outspoken critics of SLOC.

Salt Lake City attorney Roger Cutler said he met with investigators at least six months ago. Much of the discussion, he said, centered around the city's hiring the son of a former IOC member from Swaziland, David Sibandze.

Sibandze resigned his membership after it was revealed his son, Sibusiso Sibandze, worked as an intern in city hall in 1993 and 1994. Cutlertold investigators Sibandze was paid by the city and did legitimate work.

``They seemed satisfied after that,'' Cutler said.

But Roger Black, director of management services for the city, said three federal agents interviewed him a few months ago, mostly about Sibandze. The investigation has roamed far a field, with a Canadian consultant and New Jersey travel business owner also being contacted.

Mahmoud El Farnawani, who has a heart condition that keeps him from traveling, was interviewed by federal agents at his Toronto home a few weeks ago.

The SLOC board of ethics report found El Farnawani earned nearly $150,000 working for the committee, lobbying North African and other IOC members. His targets included Bashir Attarbulsi of Libya, who resigned after it was revealed his son attended Brigham Young University at bid committee expense.

El Farnawani said he had nothing to do with that arrangement, but would not say what he discussed with investigators.