Paris (AFP)

The former boss of world athletics and influential ex-member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Lamine Diack, was heard again Thursday by the investigating judges in the investigation in Paris into suspicion of purchasing votes in the allocation of the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, a week after his conviction in the corruption case against doping in Russia, we learned from sources familiar with the matter.

Contacted by AFP, one of his lawyers, Me Simon Ndiaye, confirmed that his client "has been heard today", refusing any other comment.

The 87-year-old Senegalese was sentenced on September 16 in Paris to four years in prison, two of which were closed, and a fine of 500,000 euros for corruption and breach of trust, in particular for having delayed sanctions against doped Russian athletes in exchange for funding and to promote sponsorship and dissemination negotiations with Russia, a judgment he appealed.

He was also indicted on March 27, 2019, still for corruption in the attributions of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and 2020 in Tokyo, but also in the attribution process of the Beijing World Athletics Championships in 2015, then of Worlds 2017 and 2019, for which Qatar was a candidate.

The one who chaired the International Athletics Federation (IAAF, renamed World Athletics) from 1999 to 2015 and his son Papa Massata Diack, marketing advisor to the IAAF, are suspected of having cashed their support for the host cities against bribes. -vin, for some disguised as lobbying contracts.

For Tokyo-2020, suspicion rests on two contracts which allowed the bid committee to pay a Singapore-based company, Black Tidings, for 1.197 million Singaporean dollars (800,000 euros) at the end of July 2013, then 1.685 million (1.1 M EUR) at the end of October 2013, before and after the designation of the Japanese capital by the IOC members.

Investigators believe that this company is only an "empty shell" which leads to Papa Massata Diack.

Former Tokyo-2020 bid committee boss Tsunekazu Takeda, who signed the contracts, was indicted for corruption on December 10, 2018, in Paris.

During previous interrogations, Lamine Diack confirmed that he had voted for Tokyo and that he had announced it to several of his African colleagues in the IOC, but he refuted any act of corruption.

On Monday, the Japanese newspaper Kyodo News revealed that Black Tidings had transferred $ 150,000 to a personal account of Papa Massata Diack and $ 217,000 to one of his companies in January 2014.

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