Papa Massata Diack, the son of former IAAF president, Lamine Diack, was apparently involved in a scheme to deliver “parcels” to influential members of the International Olympic Committee, according to leaked emails seen by The Guardian.
The former IAAF marketing consultant was last week banned for life by the independent IAAF ethics committee over corruption and cover-up allegations linked to Russian doping.
In December 2014, the Guardian revealed that Papa Massata Diack had appeared to request almost $5m from Qatar at a time when Doha was bidding for the 2017 world athletics championships and the Olympic Games. Through the IAAF, Papa Massata Diack denied “ever acting in such a manner.”
Another explosive email seen by The Guardian now suggests that three years earlier he had a cryptic exchange with a Qatari business executive in which he made repeated reference to a “Special Adviser”, who IAAF sources suggested was likely to be his father Lamine.
“As you know the Special Adviser went to Beijing especially to see his friends in the EXCO and to make sure that all the verbal discussions he had with them and some through his consultants are fully guaranteed,” he said in the email.
The email goes on to suggest that six individuals, referred to only by their initials but corresponding with six members of the IOC at the time, had requested “to have their parcels delivered through Special Adviser in Monaco”.
“Our special adviser insisted that we do not compromise his credibility with his people and don’t dragging him in the negative attitudes created in Beijing [sic],” it added.
Diack Sr was arrested by French police in November over allegations that he had accepted “more than €1m” in order to cover up positive drug tests, along with the former IAAF legal adviser Habib Cissé and Gabriel Dollé, the former head of the IAAF’s anti-doping unit.
