InterpolInterpol’s arrest warrant, the Red Notice, was issued following the publication of part two of a report by the Independant Commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), investigating former IAAF officials suspected of involvement in passive corruption, money laundering and criminal conspiracy.
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Police in France and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) itself are investigating the bidding procedures used in seven world championships since 2009, amid allegations the global governing body was involved in widespread corruption and the covering up of several doping cases.
“The trust and confidence of all athletics” stakeholders, most notably athletes, administrators, federations and fans, has been exploited through the existence of what we now understand was an “informal illegitimate governance structure’ outside, but directly associated with the IAAF and its anti-doping unit”, he added.
At one point, in what could have been a messaged directed at Coe, Pound encouraged the IAAF to stop the denials and deflections, and to own up to the fact that the scandal had damaged the reputation of the entire organization.
Mr Pound said that he hopes his report will prompt other sports to reform before they face a similar crisis to athletics.
On Janury 7, the IAAF’s Ethics Board placed life-time bans for violating the organizations’s Code of Ethics on Massata Diack along with Valentin Balakhnichev, the former President of the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF), Alexei Melnikov, former Chief ARAF Coach for long distance walkers and runners, and Gabriel Dolle, former Director of IAAF’s Anti-Doping Department.
– According to transcripts cited in the report, Turkey lost Lamine Diack’s support in the battle to host the 2020 Olympics when they did not pay “sponsorship monies of $4 to $5million either to the Diamond League or IAAF”. But WADA’s report suggests that the IAAF’s dealings with Russian athletes may have been just “the tip of the iceberg”.
January 14, 2016: The second report from WADA’s independent commission states that the IAAF council – of which Lord Coe is a member – “could not have been unaware” of the extent of the doping problem in athletics.
“There’s an enormous amount of reputational recovery that needs to occur here and I can’t think of anyone better than Lord Coe to lead that”.
Part of the report, authored by International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound, focused on fraud committed by top leaders of the IAAF, including its former president, Lamine Diack.
Installing Diack’s sons as marketing consultants “helped to hide their clandestine corruption”, it added.
Pound’s report did, however, call for a “forensic examination” of the processes behind the awarding of the 2021 world athletics championships to the American town of Eugene, Oregon, closely linked to sportswear manufacturer Nike.
“Where we are right now, them still denying, still attacking the whistleblowers and the truth, with no lab, with no testing a few months before the Games, it’s impossible to correct [in time]”, he told Reuters.
The report told of a sudden increase from $6 million to $25 million for Russian rights to televise the 2013 world championships.
“We have information, we don’t have hard evidence”.
“We had witness statements from a number of mostly confidential informants saying this is going on, and we record that, but we didn’t have any definite proof”, Pound said.
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He also said he had no intention of standing down.
