FORMER world athletics (IAAF) president Lamine Diack resigned as honorary member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the launch of a formal investigation against the Senegalese for suspected corruption and money laundering, the IOC said Wednesday.

    Diack, who was provisionally suspended by the IOC on Tuesday and has also resigned as president of the International Athletics Foundation, is alleged to have received more than 1 million euros (US$1.07 million) in bribes in 2011 to cover up positive doping tests of Russian athletes.

    The 82-year-old, an IOC member from 1999 to 2013 before becoming an honorary member a year later, was placed under formal investigation in France last week and questioned by authorities before being released on a bail bond and banned from leaving the country.

    His resignation from the Olympic body comes two days after the publication of a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) independent commission report on allegations of widespread corruption and collusion by Russian officials, including state security services, to cover up results of drug tests, destroy samples and intimidate laboratory staff.

    Diack served as president of the IAAF from 1999 until August this year when he was succeeded by Briton Sebastian Coe.

    Diack was a powerful figure within the IOC as he controlled the flagship sport of the Olympic Games for more than 15 years, with athletics also a big beneficiary, along with swimming, of the IOC’s Olympic Games financial contributions.

    Meanwhile, Russia said Wednesday a “foreign specialist” could take over as chief of its anti-doping watchdog as the fallout from a no-holds-barred report on drug-taking and corruption at the heart of Russian athletics spreads ahead of possible international sanctions.

    The first casualty in the wake of the scandal was the head of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who resigned after his laboratory was suspended over the allegations.

    Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that Moscow could possibly appoint a foreign expert to take over the vacant position. “We are absolutely open and ready as a result of consultations with WADA to appoint even a foreign specialist to lead the laboratory if it is necessary,” Mutko said.

    (SD-Agencies)