Former IAAF president turns on son at corruption trial

Former IAAF president Lamine Diack pointed a finger of blame at his son, saying he behaved like “a thug,” as he was quizzed intimately for the primary time in court docket Thursday on fees that the governing physique of monitor and discipline grew to become a nest of corruption and doping cover-ups below his management.

The diploma to which Diack was conscious of the alleged squeezing of hush-money from Russian athletes suspected of doping remained unclear from his usually confused, contradictory and unsure testimony. Frequently, the 87-year-old Diack appeared to not have absolutely understood or heard prolonged, detailed questions posed by the panel of judges.

Diack acknowledged, nevertheless, that he had intervened within the administration of suspected instances of doping by Russian athletes, giving directions that they be dealt with in a means that might keep away from a scandal that would disrupt negotiations with a Russian sponsor and tarnish the 2013 world championships in Moscow.

Rather than having a gaggle of Russian athletes being sanctioned on the similar time, “we said the procedures should be spread out,” Diack mentioned.

He repeatedly mentioned that his overriding concern had been to safe long-term funding for the IAAF, together with by wrapping up the sponsorship take care of Russian financial institution VTB.

“It was essential. For that I was prepared to make compromises,” Diack mentioned.

Prosecutors say he did far more than simply that. Diack and one in all his sons, Papa Massata Diack, are on trial on corruption, cash laundering and breach of belief fees. The son is being tried in his absence, having fled in 2015 to Senegal, the place he lives. They are accused of getting conspired collectively in a scheme that allegedly squeezed tens of millions of {dollars} in hush-money from athletes who paid to keep away from doping sanctions and maintain competing.

Pressed by the chief choose about his son’s position, Diack at first gave an inaudible response earlier than saying: “He conducted himself like a thug.” The prosecution alleges that Diack abused his place to place Papa Massata Diack, who labored as an IAAF advertising and marketing marketing consultant, on the heart of a system that enabled the son to cream off tens of millions from the governing physique’s revenues. The father-son partnership additionally labored collectively in hushing-up suspected Russian doping for cash, the prosecution says.

The judges repeatedly struggled to get clear and coherent solutions from Diack. He spoke fluently and with readability about occasions early in his life and earlier in his profession that had been unrelated to the fees towards him. But Diack and the judging panel repeatedly had hassle understanding one another in exchanges about particulars of the case.

As IAAF president, Diack oversaw an period when Usain Bolt made monitor and discipline wildly well-liked. But Diack mentioned in court docket that behind the scenes, the IAAF was in monetary issue and that he was pushed by a have to safe its long-term stability by signing sponsors earlier than his presidency resulted in 2015.

“Financial health ahead of everything,” he mentioned.