Ex-IAAF chief Diack charged with corruption

PARIS — French authorities have charged former IAAF president Lamine Diack with corruption linked to covering up doping cases, a legal source said Wednesday. The 82-year-old Senegalese, who stood down as International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) president in August, was charged in Paris Monday, the source said. His advisor, Habib Cisse, a lawyer, was also charged. A doctor linked with the federation’s anti-doping measures was being questioned in custody, the source said. Gabriel Dolle, who was the director of the IAAF’s anti-doping department, also has been taken into custody in Nice in the south of France, the national financial prosecutors’ office in Paris said. Police also visited the IAAF headquarters in Monaco Tuesday “to carry out interviews and to access documentation,” the IAAF said. The French prosecutors’ office said three investigating magistrates are handling the probe. Diack was head of world athletics’ governing body from 1999 until August this year when Britain’s Sebastian Coe took over the position. Diack was not immediately available for comment. He was charged with “passive corruption” and money-laundering and both he and Cisse were released on bail, the source said. His son, Pape Massata Diack was forced to resign as a marketing executive with the IAAF after being accused of involvement in corruption aimed at covering up doping scandals in Russia. IAAF treasurer and president of the Russian Federation, Valentin Balakhnishev, was also implicated and stripped of his functions by the IAAF. The French judicial inquiry follows information received from the World Anti-Doping Agency in August and is being conducted by French financial prosecutors. Coe asks to be questioned IAAF President Sebastian Coe asked to be questioned over the corruption scandal, a spokesman told AFP Wednesday. “Sebastian Coe volunteered to be questioned by police,” Chris Turner, a spokesman for the International Association of Athletics Federations said.