Former Athletics President Diack, Stands Trial

Lamine Diack, the former head of the governing body for world athletics, was at the heart of a corruption scam, prosecutors told a French court on Monday.

The prosecutors said the scam saw Russian athletes paying six-figure sums to have their names erased from doping lists.

The 87-year-old Diack, who led the then International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 1999 to 2015, stood before the French judges on the first day of trial.

He stood as charges of corruption, money laundering and breach of trust were read out to the court.

Prosecutors allege Diack solicited bribes totalling 3.45 million euros (3.9 million dollars) from athletes suspected of doping.

The bribes were to cover up test results and let them continue competing, including at the 2012 London Olympics.

They also say Diack obtained 1.5 million dollars of Russian funds while negotiating sponsorship and television rights to help finance Macky Sall’s campaign for the 2012 Senegal presidential election.

This was in exchange for slowing anti-doping procedures.

Investigators at the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) describe a web of corruption in world athletics under Diack’s leadership.

In a separate case, French prosecutors are investigating alleged bribes related to the Olympics and World Athletics Championships.

They suspect Tokyo’s bidding committee bribed the Diacks in 2013 to secure votes, which the committee has denied.

Sebastian Coe, Diack’s successor, has undertaken to rebuild trust in athletics and has introduced changes to the sport’s governance.

Diacks, along with four other former senior figures in athletics, are accused of being part of a scheme that involved extorting 23 Russian athletes for between €100,000 and €600,000 in exchange for delaying doping sanctions so they could compete at the London 2012 Olympics.

But the case was suspended almost immediately after it opened in the criminal court in Paris when prosecutors revealed they received new evidence shortly before the hearing opened.

Holding up three thick folders of notes, they asked for, and received, a delay in the trial. They said the evidence included statements that Massata Diack made to investigators in Senegal and banking details from three of his consultancy firms.