The worldwide Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Ethics Commission has confirmed that Papa Massata Diack, the son of former IAAF president Lamine Diack, is among four people facing disciplinary action following an investigation.
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The PNF said its probe began after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) alerted them to “acts of corruption and laundering involving members of the global Association of Athletics Federations”. He is now being held in France for questioning on charges relating to corruption and money laundering.
French broadcaster “iTELE” claim the money was paid to the former long-jumper for not revealing the results of an unconfirmed number of tests. The IAAF’s anti-doping director Gabriel Dolle has been taken into custody.
He had been forced to resign last December over accusations that he organised doping cover-ups for Russian athletes.
Diack, 82, was arrested on Sunday and questioned over allegations that he accepted bribes for deferring sanctions against Russian athletes that have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
Diack, who is Senegalese, was released on 500,000 euro ($550,000) bail, ordered to turn in his passport and not leave France, Lourgouilloux said. Cisse is also barred from leaving the country.
The press conference will exclude “matters now under police investigation, which are expected to be available before the end of the year”, WADA said in a later statement.
For the first time Friday, the IAAF’s ethics commission said it has also been investigating Papa Massata Diack and others.
“As part of the French investigation, police visited the IAAF headquarters offices yesterday to carry out interviews and to access documentation”.
“In the course of Sir Anthony’s investigations, he liaised with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in respect of the extensive and detailed investigation it has been undertaking with wider terms of reference and which is shortly to report its findings, and shared information with that agency”, Beloff said.
“We have already said that there were problems with our federation, but the old management are no longer working there”, he said.
The International Olympic Committee said it is “following these ongoing inquiries very closely” but also drew a line between Diack and Coe, the British middle-distance running great who won an IAAF election in August, defeating Ukrainian pole vault star Sergei Bubka.
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The IAAF announced Friday that it is cancelling its annual awards gala later this month, saying: “This is not the right time nor the right context to pay tribute to the best athletes of our sport”.
