Namibian Sport Legend Frankie Fredericks-A Four-Times Olympic Silver Medalist Was Charged In France For Rio 2016 Bribes. The form...
Namibian Sport Legend Frankie Fredericks-A Four-Times Olympic Silver Medalist Was Charged In France For Rio 2016 Bribes.
The former Olympic sprinter Frankie Fredericks has been charged by authorities in France with corruption and money-laundering offences connected to the vote for the Rio 2016 Olympics. Fredericks, a member of the International Olympic Committee(IOC) has been under investigation by French police since March over a $299,300 (£228,700) payment he received on the day Rio won the bid, October 2, 2009.
The payment came from Papa Massata Diack, the son of the former international athletics (IAAF) president Lamine Diack, who is alleged to have been a central figure in the Rio bribery scandal. Former world sprint champion Frankie Fredericks was charged on Friday with passivecorruption and money laundering relating to a graft probe into the awarding of last year's Olympics to Rio, a judicial source said.
IOC member Frankie Fredericks (R) arrives at financial crimes court building of Paris.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Fredericks denied any "involvement in untoward conduct", is being investigated by French authorities over a $299,300 (262,000 euros) payment he received from Papa Massata Diack, son of ex-International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Lamine Diack, on October 2, 2009 the day Rio won the bid. Fredericks, a four-time Olympic silver-medallist, had appeared before a Paris judge on Thursday. French investigators are looking into the possibility that bribes were paid over the awarding of both the 2016 Olympics to Rio and the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The IOC, which is cooperating with the Paris investigation, said its ethics compliance officer would look into the court ruling. "And she will report to the Ethic commission which is meeting on Monday," said the statement, adding: "Like with any procedure the right to be heard has to be respected." The investigation centres to a large extent around the activities of Papa Massata Diack, who along with Lamine Diack also faces charges in France over millions of dollars paid to cover up doping failures by Russian athletes.
Legend Of Athletics - Frankie Fredericks - Signature Edition.
Fredericks insists that the payments, first revealed by France's Le Monde newspaper in March, were received for promotional services provided between 2007 and 2011 under a contract signed on March 11, 2007, and had nothing to do with the Olympics. Following the corruption allegations, the 50-year-old Namibian stepped down as head of the IOC committee evaluating bids to host the 2024 Olympics. The IAAF provisionally suspended Fredericks from its ruling council on July 17 as it launched a probe into the graft allegations against him.
In March, Fredericks had also stepped down from an IAAF task force working on getting doping-tainted Russia back into global sport. Fredericks released a statement at the time, saying: "I categorically deny any direct or indirect involvement in any untoward conduct and confirm that I have never breached any law, regulation or rule of ethics in respect of any IOC election process."
