Former IAAF president Lamine Diack admits asking Russia for EUR 1.5m for political campaign

New Delhi: Former world athletics supremo Lamine Diack has reportedly admitted to police that he asked Russia for EUR 1.5m to run a political campaign in his native Senegal.

According to the French newspaper Le Monde, the 82-year-old revealed that he demanded money to the former Russian athletics federation president and IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev. Diack wanted to finance opposition against Senegal’s then-president Abdoulaye Wade.

The newspaper claimed that it had obtained the transcripts of Diack’s interviews with police.

The report however added that Balakhnichev denied any such demand.

Diack, who served world athletics chief for 16 years until August, was arrested by French investigators in the first week of Novemeber.

He is charged with corruption amid allegations he took bribes to cover up doping cases.