Private Meeting for Coe and Diack

(ATR) IAAF president Sebastian Coe agrees to talks with Lamine Diack, his disgraced predecessor, in a private meeting in Paris on Friday.

Diack is under trial for an array of accusations involving vote buying to secure IAAF World Championships as well as Olympic Games. He is also implicated in a scheme to blackmail Russian track and field athletes, extorting bribes to conceal positive drug tests.

Diack, who stepped down from the IAAF in 2015 with the election of Coe, has been under investigation since 2016, prohibited from traveling from France to his home in Senegal.

Diack has the right to ask for Coe to appear to testify, Around the Rings has been told by a member of the French prosecution team.

But Coe also has the right to refuse. ATR understands that the IAAF chief agreed to the meeting with Diack to help move the inquiry forward.

An official statement from the IAAF acknowledges his testimony is being made voluntarily and behind closed doors.

"Following the request from the previous president of the IAAF, a meeting will take place with both the former and the current president of the IAAF. The IAAF can confirm this has been arranged at the judge’s office at the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris on 25 May 2018 at 0930 in the presence of Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke," said the statement.

The IAAF said there are no plans for interviews after the meeting but that a statement might be issued.

The case against Diack also includes his son, Papa Masata. He is accused as the one who made arrangements for payoffs to his father. While his father is stranded in France, Papa Masata is holed up in Senegal, refusing requests by French prosecutors to testify in Paris. He has denied wrongdoing.

The inquiry into IAAF shenanigans has spread to Brazil. A trial is underway alleging that the Diacks were involved with purchasing the votes of IOC members in 2009 when Rio was the successful bidder for the 2016 Olympics.

Defense witnesses are appearing this week in Rio for Carlos Nuzman. The former IOC member and leader of Rio 2016 is accused of striking deals with Diack for votes from African IOC members. Nuzman rejects the charges.

The Diacks are also linked to suspicions of vote buying for the 2018 Winter Olympic bid from PyeongChang and the 2020 campaign of Tokyo for the Summer Olympics.

ATR is told that the encounter between Coe and Diack will be one of the last steps in the inquiry. The findings of the court should be released soon afterwards.

Reported by Ed Hula.