The news comes as the latest hammerblow to the scandal-hit federation, just two days after Lamine Diack was charged by French police with corruption over suspicions he took bribes to cover up doping cases.
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It was alleged that athletes were supplied with banned substances for a percentage of their earnings, test samples were routinely opened at borders, and that senior members of the IAAF and the Russian athletics federation were complicit in the processes.
An IAAF statement said: “The IAAF confirms that, emanating from separate ongoing investigations by WADA’s independent commission and the IAAF’s own independent Ethics Commission into allegations surrounding its anti-doping rules and regulations, a French police investigation has now commenced”.
WADA later released a short statement in which it said that the investigations had been prompted by its information.
In addition, the IAAF governing body announced it had charged four sports officials with ethics violations for allegedly concealing the doping results of a Russian athlete.
An independent commission, chaired by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s founding president Dick Pound, was formed after the broadcast of an ARD documentary – “Top-secret doping: How Russian Federation makes its winners” – which was aired in December 2014.
Earlier on Wednesday it emerged that former IAAF president Lamine Diack is reportedly being investigated by French authorities amid allegations of corruption and money laundering.
Dolle was the director of the IAAF anti-doping department until past year.
According to WADA’s findings, at least one of Diack’s sons approached Turkish runner Asli Cakir Alptekin a few months after she won gold in the 1,500 meters at the 2012 London Olympics and suggested she could pay to quash a doping positive based on her blood readings.
The others were Valentin Balakhnichev, the IAAF treasurer and Russian Athletics Federation president, and Cisse, who worked for the IAAF as legal adviser.
A doctor in charge of anti-doping matters at the IAAF was also held for questioning in addition to Diack and Cisse. “Understand that there are a lot of criminal cases going on in the world right now and those are unclear cases”.
“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. “But they did not come here to question Seb Coe”.
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Elected on a strong anti-doping platform, Coe said this week in India: “It’s not uniquely a track and field problem”.
