Diack son, three more charged with ethics violations

[November 07, 2015]  By Gene Cherry
 
 (Reuters) - The son of former IAAF president Lamine Diack and three other sports officials have been charged with concealing Russian athlete Liliya Shobukhova's doping violations, the IAAF Ethics Commission chairman said on Friday.

Papa Massata Diack, a former consultant to the sport's governing body, was charged with various alleged breaches of the IAAF's Code of Ethics, Michael Beloff said in a statement.

The others charged were Valentin Balakhnichev, former president of the All-Russia Athletic Federation and a former IAAF treasurer, Alexei Melnikov, ex-Russian coach for long-distance walkers and runners, and Gabriel Dolle, former director of the IAAF’s Anti-Doping Department.

Hearings to consider their cases will take place in London next month, Beloff added.

The charges came after French authorities this week placed Lamine Diack under formal investigation on suspicion of corruption and money laundering.

The 82-year-old Senegalese is alleged to have received over one million euros ($1.09 million) in bribes in 2011 to cover up positive doping tests by Russian athletes, the office of France's financial prosecutor said.

Dolle and Diack senior's legal adviser Habib Cisse have also been questioned by authorities as part of the probe.

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The investigations are the result of information passed on by the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Independent Commission, WADA said.

Commission chairman Dick Pound will hold a news conference in Geneva on Monday to present their findings over allegations made during German broadcaster ARD's December 2014 documentary on doping in Russia.

The IAAF Ethics Commission also said they had liaised with WADA over their investigation.

Shobukhova, a former winner of the London and Chicago marathons, recently completed a doping ban that was cut from three years and two months to two years and seven months after WADA said she had given substantial assistance in their investigations.

She featured in the 2014 documentary that alleged systematic doping by Russian athletes.

Shobukhova had been suspended and all of her results since 2009 annulled after irregularities were detected in her biological passport.

The IAAF Ethics Commission statement said an unnamed fifth person is also under investigation in their probe.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)

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