PARIS (AP) – French authorities investigating former IAAF President Lamine Diack now say one of his sons was also “very active” in an alleged “system of corruption” that sought to blackmail athletes, with demands of money to hush-up suspected doping.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, France’s national financial prosecutor said investigators have verified that Lamine Diack, who presided for nearly 16 years at track and field’s governing body, pocketed “more than 1 million euros” ($1.1 million) from the alleged cash-for-silence scheme.
Evidence from the World Anti-Doping Agency that triggered the French probe suggests that a Turkish athlete, as well as athletes from Russia, was a victim of a blackmail attempt allegedly involving Diack’s family, prosecutor Eliane Houlette said in the AP interview in her Paris office.
According to WADA’s findings, at least one of Diack’s sons approached Turkish runner Asli Cakir Alptekin a few months after she won gold in the 1,500 meters at the 2012 London Olympics and suggested she could pay to quash a doping positive.
“It was a sort of blackmail,” Houlette said. “She refused.”