On 1 November 2015, president of the IAAF Lamine Diack and several other top IAAF officials were arrested in France and under investigation over allegations that he took payments for deferring sanctions against Russian drugs cheats. Previously the IOC conducted an investigation into claims that Lamine Diack as IOC member had received bribes. The IOC provisionally suspended Diack on 10 November 2015 and he resigned on the following day.
In January 2016, Part 2 of the report of the World Anti-Doping Agency's Independent Commission investigation is published into doping, which also includes examination of the criminal side of the inquiry. The Report notes that Diack, his sons and a friend created a group responsible for organizing and enabling conspiracy and corruption within the IAAF. He sanctioned and appears to have had personal knowledge of the fraud and the extortion of athletes carried out by the actions of the informal illegitimate governance structure he put in place.
Mr Nick Davies, Ms Jane Boulter-Davies and Mr Pierre-Yves Garnier are employees of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and are subject of an IAAF investigation concerning suspected breaches of the IAAF Code of Ethics. Pending the investigation about their involvement in the mentioned conspiracy and corruption within the IAAF an provisional suspension was ordered on 10 July 2017.
The charges against the IAAF employees:
1. ) Mr Davies:
(a) That Mr Davies received an undisclosed cash payment in 2013 from Mr Papa Massata Diack, then a consultant to the IAAF, the circumstances and concealment of which call into question whether the payment was intended to have and/or in fact produced any manipulative effect; and
(b) that Mr Davies misled an IAAF Ethics Board investigator in respect of the matter identified in (a) above.
2.) Ms Boulter-Davies:
(a) That Ms Boulter-Davies received or had knowledge of receipt by Mr Nick Davies of an undisclosed cash payment in 2013 made by Mr Papa Massata Diack, then a consultant to the IAAF, the circumstances and concealment of which raise the question whether the payment was intended to have and/or in fact produced any manipulative effect; and
(b) that Ms Boulter-Davies misled an IAAF Ethics Board investigator in respect of the matter identified in (a).
3.) Mr Garnier:
(a) That Mr Garnier received an undisclosed cash payment in 2013 at the direction of the IAAF’s former President Lamine Diack, the circumstances and non-disclosure of which raise the question whether the payment was intended to have and/or in fact produced any manipulative effect; and
(b) retained some part of the sum even when aware of its apparent impropriety.
In the matter of the anti-doping allegations against Mr. Garnier the IAAF investigations showed that Dr Garnier was at the forefront of the battle to force the Russian Athletics Federation to take the necessary steps to prevent athletes who had failed doping controls from participating in athletics competitions. Further was Dr Garnier unaware at the time of the serious corruption exposed in the Ethics Board’s decision in the Shobukhova affair.
However, Dr Garnier’s explanations as to the purpose of the sums and the way in which he was entitled to and did in fact divide the sum were not clear and he failed during IAAF investigations to provide clear explanations and to answer questions fully.
The three IAAF employees admitted that they had received sums of money and Nick Davies and Jane Boultier-Davies admitted that previously they had misled the IAAF investigators. After their admission they provided evidence and statements relevant to other cases under investigation by the IAAF Ethics Board and criminal investigators in France and in other countries.
Considering the allegations, the circumstances and the admissions of the facts in these cases the IAAF Ethics Board Panel decides on 31 January 2017:
- to expel Nick Davies from his position with the IAAF with immediate effect and to pay a contribution to the costs of the proceedings;
- to impose a 6 month period of ineligibility on Ms Boulter-Davies, starting on the date of the provisional suspension, and a contribution to the costs of the proceedings;
- to impose a 3 month period of ineligibility on Mr Garnier, starting on the date of the provisional suspension, and to pay a contribution to the costs of the proceedings.
