New threat of bad weather in the international sports movement. With, this time, an actor with a significantly stronger pedigree, and above all more media-friendly, than the last characters in the casting: Sergei Bubka himself, the man with 35 world records in the pole vault. The Ukrainian has put away his saplings for a while, to embrace a career as a long-term sports manager. Today he accumulates caps without fearing too much. Let us cite, in bulk, a chair as a member of the IOC Executive Board, a role as vice-president of the IAAF, a mandate as president of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.
What do we blame him for? At this stage, nothing. But anything can happen. The affair is revealed by Le Monde. It dates back more than 8 years. According to the daily, a payment of $45.000 was made by Sergei Bubka, dated June 18, 2009, to the account of New Mills Investments, an offshore company domiciled in Nevis, a tax haven in the Antilles.
A detail that is anything but anecdotal: the beneficiary is a certain Valentin Balakhnichev (photo below), one of the most controversial mustachioed men in international athletics, sadly passed into posterity for having been suspended for life by the IAAF in January 2016. He was accused of having hidden a string of doping cases, at the time when he chaired the Russian Athletics Federation and served as treasurer of the IAAF.
Disturbing concordance of dates: the day before the said transfer, another transfer of a similar sum (45.033 dollars and 12 cents) would have left the account of New Mills Investments to Pamodzi Sports, the company owned by Papa Massata Diack, the son of former president of the IAAF, Senegalese Lamine Diack. Hidden in his native country, Papa Massata Diack is the subject of an international arrest warrant in the context of two cases. The first concerns the IAAF, the second concerns suspicions of corruption in the awarding of the Summer Games to Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
In summary, Valentin Balakhnichev paid 45.000 dollars to Papa Massata Diack, via their respective companies, before receiving an identical sum of money from Sergei Bubka. Two transfers of the same amount, 24 hours apart. Suspicious. A doubt further deepened by the fact that they were carried out at the very time when the IOC was organizing a meeting in Lausanne with the bidding teams for the 2016 Games.
Did Sergei Bubka play a role in what could turn out to be one of the most high-profile corruption scandals in sports history? At this stage, impossible to answer. Present in Minsk, where he is participating in the first visit of the coordination commission for the 2019 European Games, the person concerned denies it. Logic. He defends himself. Normal. Better: it explains and details.
According to his law firm, Simons Muirhead & Burton, the money paid to Valentin Balakhnichev was to be used for a very noble cause: the development of athletics. Yes. The payment was made for “consulting services performed by Valentin Balakhnichev.” A mission intended to promote Pole Vault Stars, the pole vault competition launched by Sergei Bubka in his hometown of Donetsk, stopped in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
In a press release published Wednesday, September 20, the Ukrainian's lawyers assure that their client had no knowledge or involvement in the business relations between Valentin Balakhnichev and other parties, including Papa Massata Diack. They also claim that he did not have the slightest connection with the candidate cities either.
Same story with Valentin Balakhnichev. Quoted by the Guardian, the Russian explains that, if he “remembers correctly”, the sum received from Sergei Bubka was to be used to create a world circuit of Pole Vault Stars, with a stop in Moscow. A project that curiously remained very secret, no one having heard of it at the time, despite the generosity of the Russian leader's "consultant" service.
The matter is now in the hands of the IAAF's new "Integrity Unit", led by Australian Brett Clothier. In a press release, she explained “being aware of the article in Monde and accusations” against Sergei Bubka. She says she wants to dig into the file. Will she go all the way?
