Bad times for Lamine Diack. Very bad weather. A little more than two months after handing over the keys to world athletics to Sebastian Coe, the former president of the IAAF has just been caught by the courts. At 82, he thought he was safe from bad luck and was preparing for a peaceful retirement, with his family, in Senegal. But he was indicted for corruption this Wednesday, November 4, by two French judges.
Lamine Diack was indicted for “passive corruption and aggravated money laundering”. The information was revealed by the French news channel iTÉLÉ, then confirmed by a judicial source. The Senegalese was left free. His legal advisor, lawyer Habib Cissé, was also indicted, but only for passive corruption. On the other hand, the French doctor Gabriel Dollé, responsible for the fight against doping at the IAAF until the end of last year, was placed in police custody in Nice. He resigned from his position in December 2014, after the broadcast of the first report by ARD, the German channel, on doping in athletics.
At this stage of the investigation, information remains scarce. We just know that the investigation would concern the anti-doping controls of “two or three” Russian athletes, according to AFP, which specifies that the cases could turn out to be more numerous.
A press release from the financial prosecutor's office specifies that the investigations were launched on August 4, following a denunciation from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on "acts of corruption and money laundering involving several members of the International Athletics Federation”. Obviously, Lamine Diack was one of them. The same press release indicates that, "on October 1, 2015, the financial prosecutor's office opened a judicial investigation (for) counts of corruption, concealment, organized gang money laundering and criminal association, entrusted to three financial investigating judges of the court of great authority of Paris. On November 1, Lamine Diack, former president of the International Athletics Federation, and Habib Cissé, his legal advisor, were placed in police custody (before being) indicted on charges of passive corruption and aggravated money laundering ( Lamine Diack) and passive corruption (Habib Cissé). Both were placed under judicial supervision. »
The facts are serious. They suggest that Lamine Diack would have been aware of the doping acts revealed by the German channel ARD and Sunday Times, what he always denied. They also suggest that the Senegalese would have accepted money to keep them in the shadows.
Now chaired by Sebastian Coe, the IAAF in turn published a press release this Wednesday. She explains that, "as part of the French investigation, the police searched the IAAF headquarters yesterday (Tuesday, editor's note) to conduct hearings and consult documents." The IAAF also specifies “to cooperate fully with French justice” in the ongoing investigation. According to Chris Turner, one of its spokespersons, Sebastion Coe was at the IAAF premises in Monaco on Tuesday and he "spoke freely and on his own initiative" to the French police.
Lamine Diack and his advisor, Habib Cissé, have so far refused to make any declaration. Will they quickly come out of their silence? Hard to say. One thing is certain: it is not good to evolve at too high a level these days in international sporting institutions. Sepp Blatter fueled the news during the summer, Lamine Diack moved there in the middle of autumn. In both cases, corruption is at the heart of the matter.
