The chief executive of the Qatari media group beIN is under investigation for corruption by the French authorities, who suspect he paid bribes in a bid to help Doha host the World Athletics Championships. The newspaper also says that Lamine Diack, the disgraced former head of the IAAF, athletics’ governing body, is also facing “passive corruption” charges by the National Financial Office. New evidence of corruption over Qatar’s bid for 2017 world championships Read moreThe case centres around two payments totalling $3.5m which were sent in October and November 2011 at a time when Qatar was bidding to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships and 2020 Olympics. While those bids failed, Qatar later won the right to host this year’s World Athletics Championships. The contract stated that a first “non-refundable” payment of $3.5m is expected as soon as the contract is signed, a sum collected by Massata Diack’s company four days before voting for the 2017 world championships.

Source: The Guardian May 22, 2019 12:07 UTC