Prosecutors request four-year jail term for ex-IAAF President Diack
French prosecutors have requested that disgraced former International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) President Lamine Diack be sentenced to four years in prison and fined €500,000 (£448,000/$562,000).
Diack is on trial in Paris for corruption, influence-trafficking and laundering money.
Le Monde reports that prosecutors made the request on what is expected to be the penultimate day of the trial.
A €500,000 fine would be the maximum amount permitted.
Earlier this week, Diack admitted that he “unquestionably” should have been more vigilant during his time at the helm of the organisation.
The Senegalese official was also unable to explain why his son – co-defendant Papa Massata Diack – and associated companies transferred €600,000 (£539,000/$679,000) into his bank account between 2011 and 2015.
The 87-year-old was IAAF President from 1999 until 2015 and an International Olympic Committee member between 1999 and 2013 but stood down as an honorary member in 2015 following his arrest.
Diack has been under house arrest since November 2015, suggesting the chances of him serving time inside a prison are low.
Papa Massata Diack, who handled valuable marketing rights for the IAAF, allegedly making millions of euros in “exorbitant” and illegal commissions, has refused to be extradited from Senegal so is being tried in absentia.
He is alleged to have siphoned off €10 million (£9 million/$11.3 million) in one instance alone, when Russian bank VTB made a payment of €29 million (£26.1 million/$32.8 million) to sponsor the IAAF – since rebranded as World Athletics – from 2007 to 2011 but the International Federation only received €19 million (£17.1 million/$21.5 million).
Prosecutors have requested a five-year prison sentence and €500,000 fine for the younger Diack.
Given that the prosecution has been unable to extradite him to France, again the chances of him spending any time in a French prison would appear slim.
Ex-advisor Habib Cissé and Gabriel Dollé – the former anti-doping chief at the IAAF – are also standing trial, and so too former Russian Athletics Federation President Valentin Balakhnichev and Alexei Melnikov, the former head distance coach of the Russian national team.
read also:Lamine Diack pleads ignorance as absent son looms over IAAF trial
It is alleged that Diack diverted Russian funds to political campaigns in his native Senegal, including Macky Sall’s Presidential bid in 2012, in exchange for the IAAF anti-doping arm burying offences by Russian athletes.
Sall won the 2012 election and remains the President of Senegal.