Ex-IAAF chief Lamine Diack faces new charges

French investigators on Monday hit former IAAF president Lamine Diack with new corruption charges linked to doping cover-ups in world athletics, a source close to the inquiry said.

The Senegalese is suspected of turning a blind eye to doping cases, notably involving Russian athletes, in exchange for money.

Investigators also suspect him of making cash payments totalling 140,000 euros to Gabriel Dolle, a doctor for the IAAF until last year who has also been charged with corruption, the source said.

Diack, 82, denies making the payments.

It is these suspicions that led to the new charges being laid against Diack, who was seen by an AFP reporter at the High Court in Paris on Monday accompanied by his lawyers. He has already been charged with corruption, money laundering and conspiracy along with his legal advisor Habib Cisse and Dolle.

Diack’s lawyer Daouda Diop did not respond to attempts to contact him, while another of his representatives, Alexandre Varraut, refused to comment.

Following his arrest in November, Diack resigned from his position on the International Olympic Committee, where he had served as an honorary member.

The Senegalese national served as head of the International Association of Athletics Federations for 16 years until August, when he was succeeded by Sebastian Coe.

Report claims IAAF delayed naming Russian drug cheats IAAF officials plotted to delay revealing the names of Russian doping cheats ahead of the 2013 World Championships, according to a report on Monday.

The report on the BBC’s website claims to have discovered an email from IAAF deputy general secretary Nick Davies that discusses the plan to keep Russian athletes using drugs out of the spotlight until after the event was over.

Davies reportedly sent the email to Papa Massata Diack, who worked as an IAAF marketing consultant at the time and is the son of Lamine Diack.

Lamine resigned from his position on the IOC in November after being charged with corruption, money laundering and conspiracy.

In the email, which was sent just weeks before Moscow staged the 2013 World Championships, Davies wrote he needed to sit down with the anti-doping team to discuss “Russian skeletons in the cupboard”.

Davies stressed in the email that any Russians already caught cheating “should NOT” be in the Russian team in Moscow and that this should be made clear to Valentin Balakhnichev, then president of the Russian athletics federation and IAAF treasurer.