Four senior IAAF officials banned amid doping cover-up

The IAAF’s ethics commission has announced bans for four senior officials alleged to have covered up doping offences, including the son of former president Lamine Diack.

Since a three-day hearing took place in London last month, the International Association of Athletics Federations independent ethics commission has been deliberating on what sanctions to impose against Papa Massata Diack, who worked as a consultant for the organisation, former IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dollé, former Russian federation president and IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev and the Russian federation’s former chief coach for long-distance athletes Alexei Melnikov.

A statement from the ethics committee chaired by Michael Beloff QC on Thursday confirmed that Balakhnichev, Melnikov and Diack have been banned from the sport for life, while Dollé has received a five-year ban.

“The panel considers in the light of its findings that VB [Balakhnichev], AM [Melnikov]and PMD [Massatadiack]should be banned for life from any further involvement in any way in the sport of track and field; any lesser sanction would not meet the gravity of their offences,” read the statement, which also confirmed Balakhnichev and Diack face fines of $25,000 (€23,000) and Melnikov $15,000.

“In GD [Dolle]’s case such ban is also appropriate but in his case for five years only; his sins were those of omission, not commission. The panel hereby imposes these bans with effect from the date of this decision.

The charges involve Russian runner Liliya Shobukhova, the former London marathon winner who turned whistleblower for the world anti-doping agency earlier this year, and money she paid to have her doping violations covered up. According to testimony she has given, Shobukhova paid more than $600,000 for violations to be covered up so that she was not suspended.

The statement considered that Shobukhova’s evidence and that of her husband Igor, a former employee of Russia’s anti-doping agency (Rusada), had “the ring of truth entirely consistent as it is with the undisputed facts and the key documentation”, whereas Balakhnichev and Melnikov’s version of events “is rather riddled with implausibilities, inconsistencies, transparent lies and dubious documents. PMD’s version is also lacking in any plausibility and is further undermined by his refusal to expose himself to any meaningful questioning”.

The statement continued: “The quality of the breaches determined as proven by the panel need no hyperbolic exaggeration; they speak for themselves. On the Panel’s findings the head of a national Federation, the senior coach of a major national team and a marketing consultant for the IAAF conspired together (and, it may yet be proven with others too) to conceal for more than three years anti-doping violations by an athlete at what appeared to be the highest pinnacle of her sport. As to the first two, VB and AM, their actions were the antithesis of what was appropriate.

“Far from – as they should have – supporting the anti-doping regime, they subverted it, and, in so doing, allowed LS (Liliya Shobukhova) to compete in two marathons when she should not have done so, to the detriment of her rivals in those races and the integrity of the competition. As to the third, PMD, he had no functional responsibilities in the anti-doping regime but equally no justification at all for subverting it. All three compounded the vice of what they did by conspiring to extort what were in substance bribes from LS by acts of blackmail. They acted dishonestly and corruptly and did unprecedented damage to the sport of track and field which, by their actions, they have brought into serious disrepute.”

The ethics hearings take place against a background of investigations by the French police into allegations that senior IAAF officials took bribes to cover up drugs tests. Lamine Diack is under investigation suspected of receiving more than €1m, while his son, Dollé and Balakhnichev are also being investigated. Dollé left his post with the IAAF in December 2014 after being interviewed by the ethics committee.

The ethics panel acknowledged those investigations and revealed it had considered whether to adjourn the hearing until the conclusions of the criminal process “but decided not to do so”.

“The Panel received no request for such an adjournment from any of the Defendants,” read the statement. “Nor did the Panel consider of its own motion that it would be appropriate to adjourn the hearing because of the French police investigations. The Panel understands that civil and disciplinary proceedings are often conducted in France notwithstanding the possibility or pendency of criminal proceedings.”

All four men have also been informed of their right to appeal the decision to the court of arbitration for sport.

Balakhnichev said the decision to ban him for life was politicised and that he intended to appeal against the decision.

The IAAF said in a statement that it was “angered to see that individuals have in the panel’s finding ‘conspired to extort what were in substance bribes from the athlete by acts of blackmail’. This is all the more so because these breaches are related to one doping case which, among others, was identified and pursued by the IAAF Anti-Doping Department. Ultimately, the department was able to ensure that the athlete concerned received a lengthy ban, but the four individuals’ activities delayed that outcome. The IAAF has already introduced corrective measures to make sure this sort of interference can’t happen again.”

The IAAF president, Sebastian Coe, added: "I'd like to thank the independent IAAF ethics board for their diligent and detailed investigation. The life bans announced today could not send a stronger message that those who attempt to corrupt or subvert the sport of athletics will be brought to justice. We continue to work with the French authorities' investigation and the Wada's independent commission."

The panel was made up of Beloff, Thomas H Murray, an American who is President Emeritus of the renowned research institution the Hastings Centre, and Japan’s Akira Kawamura, a former president of the International Bar Association.

The IAAF has banned Russia from international competition after a report by the world anti-doping agency’s independent commission, headed by Dick Pound, who is due to release the second part of his findings on January 14th.

(Guardian service)