French judiciary investigates Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo Olympic bids

The French judiciary has widened its scope of investigations regarding alleged accusations of corruption leveled at Lamine Diack, former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, or IAAF, to include the circumstances of granting Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo the rights of organizing the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics respectively.

When asked on Wednesday regarding the information revealed by British newspaper the Guardian, the French Minister of State for Sport, Thierry Braillard, highlighted the shift in the case overseen by anticorruption judge Renaud van Ruymbeke.

In an interview with France Info radio, Braillard stressed that the investigations have been opened into a possible impact on the decisionmaking process regarding attributing the rights of organizing the games to Rio and Tokyo, and confirmed that it has nothing to do with the current members of the International Olympic Committee.

Braillard said, according to what he understood, the investigations are basically targeting Lamine Diack, who was accused last November by judge van Ruymbeke of receiving money from the Russian federation to cover up the Russian athletes’ doping cases.

The French minister denied any doubts concerning the fairness of the current members of the International Olympic Committee.

According to the Guardian, Lamine Diack and his son Pope Massata Diack are facing charges of mediating between cities bidding to host the games and some members of the International Olympic Committee.

The decision to grant Rio the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games was taken in 2009, while Tokyo was announced as the host city of the 2020 games in 2013.