Senegal refuses French request to question Diack

They should come to Senegal to investigate and I can respond formally instead of organising leaks in the press.

PAPA MASSATA DIACK

Senegalese authorities have blankly refused to allow French judges to question Papa Massata Diack as part of a corruption probe into his father, disgraced former IAAF chief Lamine Diack, judicial sources said on Tuesday.

Both Papa Massata Diack and his 83-year-old father face charges in France over millions of dollars paid to cover up doping failures by Russian athletes.

Lamine Diack is barred from leaving France, while Papa Massata Diack has been in hiding in Dakar where Senegalese authorities have refused to extradite him.

Also implicated in possible corruption over the awarding of the 2016 Olympic Games to Rio, Papa Massata Diack has slammed the French investigation as a “witch hunt” against him.

“They should come to Senegal to investigate and I can respond formally instead of organising leaks in the press,” he said in an interview on Monday.

However, a French judicial source said on Tuesday that in addition to the arrest warrant, a formal rogatory international letter was sent to Dakar in May 2016 calling for Papa Massata Diack’s indictment.

“The Senegalese authorities have indicated that they will not execute this request,” added the same source.