Former IAAF President Lamine Diack "denies having given money to finance Macky Sall's successful bid to become the president of Senegal, his lawyers said in a statement," according to Regan & Pretot of REUTERS. Le Monde reported on Friday that Diack told french police he "asked Valentin Balakhnichev, then-president of the Russian track and field federation," for €1.5M to finance political opposition in Senegal in '11. Diack has been placed under formal investigation in France on suspicion of corruption and money laundering following a complaint from the World Anti-Doping Agency last month, allegations his family called "excessive and insignificant." Sall, 50, was the main challenger to Senegal's then-president Abdoulaye Wade, 85, in the March '12 election "that was widely praised as fair and democratic." Diack's lawyers Daouda Diop, Christian Charriere-Bournazel and Alexandre Varaut in a statement said, "President Lamine Diack affirms that he never gave the slightest sum of money to the candidate, Macky Sall, who became president of Senegal, nor to his electoral campaign managers. ... Any contribution that may have come from Russia to Senegal has no link with either the functions or the actions of Mr. Lamine Diack in his role of IAAF president" (REUTERS, 12/19). The BBC reported the government of Senegal has denied allegations that Sall's campaign "was funded by the former head of world athletics." Governement spokesperson Seydou Gueye said, "Sall was not involved" (BBC, 12/18).
