PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the IAAF’s decision to award the 2021 World Track and Field Championships to Eugene, Ore., without an open bidding process.
The financial prosecutors’ office in Paris aims to determine whether corruption, money laundering or other crimes may have been committed in the IAAF’s decision and, if so, whether prosecuting them might fall within French jurisdiction.
The office said Thursday that its probe, opened Dec. 1, does not target any specific individuals at this stage. It is also separate from another, more advanced criminal investigation being led by French magistrates into suspected corruption by former IAAF president Lamine Diack and two other people who worked for the sport’s governing body: lawyer Habib Cisse and former anti-doping chief Gabriel Dolle.