He arrived under an umbrella, empty-handed and looking serious. He left just as light, much sooner than he would have imagined. The trial of Lamine Diack, the former president of the International Athletics Federation, opened Monday January 13 in Paris. To close immediately.
To everyone's surprise, the long-awaited hearing was postponed until June at the earliest. The 32e criminal chamber of the Paris court had no choice but to dismiss both camps without having been able to move forward an inch.
In question, a double procedural problem. The president of the correctional chamber, Rose-Marie Hunault, announced it shortly after the opening of the trial. She didn't expect it. She didn't seem to like it.
First hiccup: a series of documents arrived the same day in the hands of the financial prosecutor's office. The file is voluminous. It contains the report of a hearing of Papa Massata Diack, the son of the former president of the IAAF, one of the main protagonists in the affair, if not the main one. He was heard by a judge at the Dakar court on November 4.
The same batch of investigative documents also includes banking documents. They are linked to the movements of funds carried out on the accounts of three companies behind which the name of Papa Massata Diack appears: Pamodzi Sports Consulting, PMD Consulting and Sporting Age. Their content could prove explosive.
The Senegalese justice system has long refused to cooperate with the investigation by the French financial prosecutor. Obviously, she has changed her position. The timing may seem surprising, even doubtful. According to Team, citing the prosecutors, it would nevertheless be normal: the mail passed through the French embassy in Dakar, before passing through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and finally reaching the financial prosecutor's office.
« We received these parts physically this morning, we were not able to study them, justified one of the financial prosecutors, Arnaud de Laguiche. We can't pretend these parts don't exist"
Another procedural problem, more surprising in the context of a case that began in 2016: the accusation of “concealment of breach of trust” against Papa Massata Diack does not appear in his indictment. Odd.
In the meantime, the long-awaited trial has taken on the appearance of a false start. Both camps left the court as they came. They will see each other again, but the rest is still written in the conditional.
A so-called “pre-trial” hearing was set for April 27. The trial, for its part, could take place from June 3 to 22, 2020. In the meantime, a new judge will be appointed. He will have to go through the new documents brought to the file. They should lead to the organization of a series of additional hearings.
According to the lawyer for one of the accused, Habib Cissé, the procedure will never be completed in six months. It could last two or three times longer.
Silent upon his arrival at court, where he refused to answer questions from the media, Lamine Diack addressed the judge to request a partial lifting of judicial control. He said he wished he could travel, at least one last time, to visit his brother. “ He comes to celebrate its centenary. I'll be back ", pleaded the Senegalese. The Paris court refused.
At 86 years old, Lamine Diack will therefore have to stay in France, where he has been under house arrest since the end of 2015. He risks up to 10 years in prison and a heavy fine.
The postponement of the trial gives him a respite. But the rest does not look good. The new documents obtained on Monday January 13 by the financial prosecutor's office could further increase the charges.
Papa Massata Diack, for his part, will continue to observe the evolution of the investigation from Dakar. He did not appear at the Paris court on Monday January 13. He won't do it again in 6 months or a year. According to a source close to the Olympic community, he would be ready to “ throw it all away” in the event that things go badly for his father. The explosion could then shake up part of the international sports movement, including within the IOC.
