Papa Massata Diack, the consultant and son of former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Lamine Diack, is among three officials to have been banned for life from the sport of athletics today by the IAAF Ethics Commission, who concluded that figures within the IAAF have been “guilty of blackmail” since 2011.
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But Shobukhova turned whistleblower for the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) which has been investigating widespread doping in Russian support.
The sport was plunged into crisis at the end of previous year after an initial report by the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) detailed systematic, state-sponsored doping and related corruption in Russian Federation.
The IAAF issues lifetime bans to three senior officials over allegations of doping cover-ups.
Ex-IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dolle was also charged and has been banned for five years.
It said they compounded their dishonesty by conspiring to extort “what were in substance bribes by acts of blackmail” and brought the sport of track and field into serious disrepute. Balakhnichev intends to appeal against the decision.
Balakhnichev and Diack are also facing fines of $25,000 (£17,000), while Melnikov could be ordered to pay $15,000 (£10,000).
“Any lesser sanction would not meet the gravity of their offences”, the commission said in announcing the bans. According to the testimony, some $325,000 was paid back to Shobukhova through a Singaporean company Black Tidings in 2014 in a bid to obtain her silence over the bribes.
Diack remains under French police investigation for corruption linked to doping cover-ups in world athletics. Balakhnichev, Melnikov and Dolle appeared by video link.
The report claims Russian deputy minister for sport Yuri Nagornyh reported he had been told by Balakhnichev that a system had been formulated to allow athletes with abnormal blood passport profiles to continue competing in exchange for cash payments.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, however, accused the IAAF of trying to divert attention away from publication next week of the second part of WADA’s investigation which is expected to criticise the world governing body.
The IAAF panel said Dolle’s failure to take action to prevent Shobukhova from competing in the Olympics was an “inexcusable lack of due care and diligence rather than corruption”.
A report by the IAAF’s ethics committee claims a powerful trio blackmailed Russian distance runner Lilya Shobukhova into paying them off to keep results of her positive drug tests secret.
“We continue to work with the French authorities’ investigation and the WADA’s Independent Commission”, the Englishman, two-time Olympic champion in 1,500 metres, added.
The IAAF, which has faced accusations of taking a lax attitude to doping, said it was “angered” by the bribery case and insisted the four no longer had any link to the world body.
The officials banned for life are: Diack, formerly an IAAF marketing consultant, Alexei Melnikov, former head coach of Russia’s race-walking and long-distance running programs and Valentin Balakhnichev, the former Russian athletics federation head.
Valentin Balakhnichev, former president of the All-Russia Athletic Federation.
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“The IAAF is reassured that the panel of the ethics board has seen no evidence implicating any other members of the IAAF anti-doping department”, it said in a statement.
