Former IAAF chief Diack’s son to have retrial
Papa Massata Diack, the son of former world athletics chief Lamine Diack, who died in 2021, is continuing his legal battle.
Diack, whose father led the IAAF – now known as World Athletics – from 1999 to 2015, was one of six men convicted in France in 2020 of covering up 23 Russian doping cases in exchange for Russian sponsorship deals, with events dating back to 2011.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined €1 million.
World Athletics is seeking €41.2 million in compensation.
However, the Cour de Cassation, France’s highest court, ruled on Wednesday that the case should be reviewed by the Paris Court of Appeal.
According to the high court’s decision, the appeals court did not sufficiently justify his guilt as an accomplice to passive corruption.
During the 2020 trial, prosecutors alleged that Diack and his father oversaw a corrupt network that worked to conceal doping cases and delay or eliminate sanctions for Russian athletes who tested positive.
As a result of concealing these doping cases, Russian athletes were able to compete at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
Papa Massata Diack, known as PMD, played an important role as a marketing consultant for the IAAF. He remains in his native Senegal, which refuses to extradite the 58-year-old. PMD was found guilty of being an accomplice in a bribery scheme and embessling €15 million from the IAAF.
It is alleged that significant sums of money were diverted in return for marketing and sponsorship deals.
World Athletics, now led by British double Olympic gold medallist Sebastian Coe, is seeking €41.2 million in damages. The ruling opens a new legal chapter with an uncertain outcome.
Lamine Diack took over the presidency of the IAAF on November 8, 1999. He succeeded the Italian Primo Nebiolo. He was succeeded by the Briton Sebastian Coe on August 31, 2015.
The investigation that led to his resignation in 2015, and subsequent conviction in 2020, also led to his resignation as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee. At the time of his death, Diack had several ongoing cases in France involving other allegations of corruption. —insidethegames.biz