Doping, corruption and sponsors: Papa Massata, the omnipresent absentee at the Diack clan trial

Papa Massata Diack, the son of the former boss of world athletics, on March 6, 2017 in Dakar [COURTESY]

He is at the heart of the suspicions of corruption against a background of Russian doping and embezzlement of millions of euros from the sponsors, but he has always escaped French justice: Papa Massata Diack, the son of the former boss ousted from athletics Lamine Diack, again shone by his absence Monday at the trial of this sprawling affair in Paris.

"Mmmhhhh?", "Sorry?", "I don't understand", "I don't know": the former president of the international athletics federation (IAAF, 1999-2015), Lamine Diack, opposed answers often confused and fragmented on the sponsorship side of the case, discussed on Monday. Until one of his lawyers, Me William Bourdon, made him say that his fourth mandate at the head of the IAAF had been "that of too many" and that he should have been more vigilant: "incontestably" , murmured the 87-year-old man, white hair, sky-blue boubou and glasses tied on his head by a thick black elastic band.