Athletics: IAAF bans former Diack lawyer Cisse for life

[September 10, 2019]    (Reuters) - Habib Cisse, former legal adviser to disgraced IAAF ex-president Lamine Diack, has been banned for life for corruption and fined $25,000, the IAAF Ethics Board said on Monday.

The IAAF said its ethics panel had found Cisse guilty of helping to cover up doping violations by Lilya Shobukhova "and other Russian athletes".

Cisse was accused by independent investigator Dick Pound in 2016 of being part of a clique run by Diack that covered up organized doping in the sport.

Diack, who is to be tried in France on charges of corruption and money laundering, diverted the handling of Russian doping cases to Cisse, who was serving at the time as the Senegalese's personal lawyer.

"The decision (to ban Cisse) enters into force on 9 September 2019, being the date on which the decision was communicated to the parties," the IAAF said in a statement on its website.

The world governing body added that it would not publish the full reasons for its decision until police investigations and legal proceedings against Cisse and others had ended.

(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

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