The trial into the biggest case of alleged Olympic corruption to reach a court of law, in which Lamine Diack, the disgraced former head of the IAAF, world athletics’ governing body, is accused of accepting millions of dollars to cover up Russian doping tests, begins tomorrow morning in Paris.
Diack, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1999 to 2015 (the last two years his status honorary), may spend the rest of his life in jail if convicted: the Senegalese former sports bureaucrat turns 87 today and faces a prison term of up to 10 years, as well as a heavy fine, if convicted.
The head of the International Association of Athletics Federations (now World Athletics) between 1999-2015, Diack is charged with “giving and receiving bribes,” “breach of trust” and “organized money laundering,” and is expected to attend court.
Athletes are forbidden under the Olympic Charter from dragging politics into the field of sport with them. The allegations against Diack (and others) suggest that senior figures in the Olympic Movement were not only engaged in sports politics but that their activities were a part and parcel of politics beyond the sporting realm.
The prosecution alleges that Diack obtained $1.5 million of Russian funds to help back Macky Sall‘s campaign for the 2012 Senegal presidential election (which he won) in exchange for the IAAF’s anti-doping arm covering up or delaying offences by 23 Russians.
The aim, prosecutors will say, was to allow the Russians to compete in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow.
The trial, following a four-year investigation by the French Financial Prosecutor’s Office, was originally scheduled to start on January 13 but procedural problems caused a delay. It is possible that similar issues will be raised at the start of proceedings tomorrow. Assuming the trial goes ahead, the case will also see the appearance in court of Frenchmen Habib Cisse and Gabriel Dolle.
Cisse, Diack’s former legal advisor, who is suspected of having acted as an intermediary between the then-IAAF and Russian athletics. Cisse is said to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Dolle, the former IAAF anti-doping chief, is accused of “receiving bribes” amounting to euros 190,000.
Doping at the heart of an Olympic Movement straining under the weight of a history it failed to deal with
Another accused, Diack’s son Papa Massata Diack, who handled lucrative contracts for the IAAF, will not appear. He was implicated through a payment of €450,000 ($508,000) from Russian runner Liliya Shobukhova, allegedly to have her blood passport case delayed in order to compete in the 2012 Olympic marathon, as revealed by German TV station ARD in 2014. ARD’s investigation led to World Anti-Doping Agency Investigation allegations of systematic Russian doping.
The scandal at the heart of the Diack trial led to Russia being banned from competing in several international competitions over state-sponsored doping between 2011 and 2015. Despite being reinstated by other sports federations, Russia is still banned from competing as a nation by World Athletics.
In swimming, the issues affected several Russian swimmers in the lead up to and during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the controversy of events surrounding Yulia Efimova and rival Lilly King among the most headlined-grabbing of the Games.
Diack junior is accused of playing a “central role” in the network of corruption and is charged with “money laundering,” “giving bribes” and “aiding the receiving of bribes.”
The deal that prosecutors say helped fund the 2012 presidential election campaign of Diack senior’s friend Sall also allegedly smoothed the way for negotiations with Russian sponsors and broadcasters before the Moscow world championships.
Lamine Diack & Son Accused Of Being At The Heart Of ‘Web Of Corruption’
In its report from Paris, Agence France-Presse (AFP), states: “Together, the Diacks are suspected of being at the heart of a web of corruption. The case is being pursued by the French authorities because the alleged money-laundering happened in France. Lamine Diack has been forbidden to leave France since the investigation began. Papa Massata Diack has been holed up in his native Senegal, out of reach of the French authorities.
“Papa Massata Diack was, however, questioned in Dakar in November over accusations against him and his father as part of a separate Senegalese investigation, a source told AFP. He has refused to leave Senegal and despite two international arrest warrants issued by France, the Senegalese authorities have said they will not extradite him.”
Coronavirus allowing …
On Monday morning, the court will hear a request from Antoine Beauquier, Papa Massata Diack’s Paris lawyer, for another postponement, because Diack junior’s other two lawyers, while willing to travel to Paris, cannot leave Dakar because of coronavirus travel restrictions.
Two other defendants are expected to be absent from the trial in Paris, at which all eyes will be on Lamine Diack.
Valentin Balakhnichev, a former head of the Russian athletics federation and IAAF treasurer, is accused of “giving and receiving bribes” and “aggravated money-laundering.”
Alexei Melnikov, formerly Russia’s chief distance running coach, is accused of “receiving bribes.”
Both are the subjects of international arrest warrants.