Papa Massata Diack
Papa Massata Diack has strongly denied the allegations that he was involved in fixing the location of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games to Rio de Janeiro as “the biggest lie in the history of world sport”.
The comments by the Senegalese follow a raid on the house earlier this week of Rio 2016 President, Carlos Nuzman.
Nuzman is expected to appear before a court in Rio de Janeiro on tomorrow where he will be asked to explain his relationship with Brazilian businessman, Arthur Cesar de Menezes Soares Filho.
The Brazilian has not been charged with anything but is suspected by Brazilian prosecutors of being the main link between de Menezes, a businessman nicknamed “King Arthur”, and Senegal’s former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President, Lamine Diack.
“This accusation is the biggest lie in the history of world sport,” Diack, a former marketing consultant with the IAAF, told Reuters.
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“Sometimes I accompanied my father to assist in his personal work but to say I organised votes…my job was to help the IAAF identify countries to organise sporting events,”
Lamine Diack was a voting member of the IOC at the time Rio de Janeiro were awarded the Olympic and Paralympic Games in October 2009.
De Menezes allegedly provided $1.5 million (£1.2 million/€1.4 million) through a company set-up by Diack’s son, Papa Massata, to help solicit the votes of African IOC members in return for supporting Rio 2016.
The new information from the investigation is set to be shared with French prosecutors, who reportedly had representatives present during the search of Nuzman’s house.
They were already investigating Lamine Diack on allegations of bribery, including taking money off Russian athletes so they were not banned for failed drugs tests.
French prosecutors have taken Lamine Diack’s passport off him and he is currently unable to leave the country.
They also want to question Papa Massata Diack but he is currently refusing to leave Senegal.
The IAAF have banned him for life.
According to allegations published in Le Monde, French police are probing a payment made by Matlock Capital Group – a British Virgin Islands-based holding company linked to de Menezes Soares Filho – to Pamodzi Consulting, a firm set-up by Papa Massata Diack.
Source: G Sport
