IAAF boss Lord Coe denies wrongdoing after new allegations
Last Updated: 16/06/16 8:25pm
Lord Coe has denied any wrongdoing after it was alleged he won the IAAF presidency with the help of a disgraced official.
A BBC documentary claims to have text messages showing Papa Massata Diack - son of Coe's predecessor Lamine Diack - offered strategic advice and information on rival candidate Sergey Bubka.
Diack Jr worked as an IAAF marketing consultant until he was implicated in an alleged doping cover-up involving a Russian athlete and banned for life.
An IAAF statement issued in response to the Panorama programme acknowledged Diack Jr had "sent messages of support" but said: "The suggestion that Seb Coe was actively seeking Papa Massata Diack's advice about his campaign is wrong.
"As with any campaign, lots of people offer advice - wanted or not, some helpful, some not. You try to be civil but wary. This was the case with Mr Diack."
The documentary also claims Coe, who served as a vice-president under Diack Sr, was sent details of the alleged cover-up involving Russian athlete Liliya Shobukhova four months before they were made public.
The former Olympic athlete told a committee of MPs last year he was "certainly not aware of the specific allegations that had been made around the corruption of anti-doping processes in Russia" during his time as vice-president.
And Thursday's IAAF statement said Coe acted correctly by forwarding on emails alleging corruption without examining their detail.
"Seb has never denied hearing rumours about corruption," the statement said. "In fact he has said on many occasions that when alerted to rumours he asked people to pass them on to the Ethics Commission to be investigated.
"He did receive an email from Dave Bedford that said 'The attachments relate to an issue that is being investigated by the IAAF EC (Michael Beloff)'. This was enough for Seb Coe to forward the email to the Ethics Commission. He did not feel it was necessary to read the attachments.
"You may think this shows a lack of curiosity. He, and we, would argue that it shows a full duty of care. Ensuring the right people in the right place were aware of allegations and were investigating them."
Coe has vowed to clean up athletics since winning the presidency last year, and the IAAF is due to vote this week on whether to allow Russian athletes to compete at this summer's Rio Olympic Games.
