IAAF President Sebastian Coe’s "former right-hand man" at the IAAF "has been expelled" from the organization after he "admitted lying to an investigation" about receiving a €30,000 ($32,350) payment, according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES. However, the IAAF ethics board, "which imposed the expulsion, has stopped short" of banning Nick Davies -- the director of the president’s office under Coe -- from athletics, meaning that he can "still work within the sport." The ethics board three-person panel ruled that the payment "was not corrupt." The IAAF board further stated that "it is no part of our decision that Mr Davies acted in any way corruptly." Davies "initially denied receiving the money" from Papa Massata Diack, the son of former IAAF President Lamine Diack, who was at the center of claims he received bribe payments to cover up Russian doping. Diack "rejects all bribery claims." Davies "later admitted" to having received the money, but said it was "only to help ensure" that the 2013 Moscow World Championships were a "success" (LONDON TIMES, 2/1). In London, Ben Rumsby reported the judgment was published on the same day as a letter in which Coe denied misleading Parliament after "being found to have been aware" of the existence of "serious allegations" related to the Russian doping scandal before they were "exposed by an explosive documentary." Coe maintained he had "not known about the blackmail plot that brought the sport to its knees," but confirmed for the first time that "there had been several attempts to alert him to it." His admission came in a letter to Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee Chair Damian Collins, amid attempts to recall Coe to Parliament following testimony from former athlete David Bedford, which MPs said "undermined" the IAAF president’s evidence to them in Dec. '15 (TELEGRAPH, 1/31). The BBC reported the decision "relates to an email reported to have been sent" by Papa Massata Diack to his father in July '13. Davies' wife, Jane Boulter-Davies, was given a "six-month suspension backdated to June and is able to return to her duties at the IAAF with immediate effect." A third official, Dr. Pierre-Yves Garnier, "was given a three-month suspension but this was also backdated to June" and he is free to return to his duties at the IAAF with "immediate effect" (BBC, 1/31).
