“Given the cloud that hangs over our association this is clearly not the time for the global athletics family to be gathering in celebration of our sport”, IAAF president Sebastian Coe said in a bluntly-worded statement that also promised tougher financial controls.
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Diack remains under investigation by French prosecutors, with the 82-year-old under suspicion of receiving money in 2011 in return for deferring sanctions against Russian athletes who failed drug tests.
Diack’s son Papa Massata Diack, a former consultant to the IAAF, will now face charges for various alleged breaches of the IAAF Code of Ethics, the governing body said.
Minichiello said: “When all this came out, the IAAF said, ‘We will get to the bottom of this and investigate.’ Nothing has happened since”.
The head of Russia’s Athletics Federation (VFLA), Valentin Balakhnichev, has also resigned from his role as IAAF treasurer.
Coe says the IAAF will still present the awards to the winning athletes.
The scandal broke in late 2014 when German broadcaster ARD alleged a number of positive dope tests involving Russian athletes were covered up by IAAF officials.
The Monaco-based IAAF confirmed a police swoop took place at its headquarters on Tuesday “to carry out interviews and access documentation”.
The sensational charges were laid ahead of the release this month of a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission into allegations of widespread substance abuse in Russian Federation, Kenya and among world champions.
“The All-Russia Athletic Federation is aware of the investigations the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the ethics commission of the worldwide Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) have been conducting and it declares its openness to cooperation and integration with the world athletics community in all spheres”, the statement runs.
Russia is also facing IAAF investigations into claims Russian officials manipulated suspensions for a few of its walkers to protect their Olympic results and that a few walkers ignored their bans and continued to compete.
The gala is held under the auspices of the worldwide Athletics Foundation, a charity whose honorary president is Prince Albert II of Monaco.
FILE – In this Aug.21, 2015 file photo, then IAAF president Lamine Diack adjusts his headphones duri …
Reuters was not immediately able to reach the three men for comment.
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A leading Kenyan sports administrator added his voice to the perceived inaction in combating the doping problem with a warning that unless his country improved their anti-doping efforts they faced expulsion from competition, including next year’s Rio Olympics.
