The Russian doping scandal took a new twist on Friday when a French newspaper reported that former IAAF President Lamine Diack asked Russia for 1.5 million euros ($A2.28 million) to fund the political opposition in his native Senegal.
Diack told French police he sought the money in 2011 to help finance the opposition in Senegal's presidential election, Le Monde reported.
The request came at a time when the International Association of Athletics Federations was dealing with a slew of suspected Russian doping cases.
French police questioned Diack in November, subsequently placing him under formal investigation on corruption and money-laundering charges. Le Monde said it had seen transcripts of his hearings.
France's national office for financial prosecutions alleges Diack, who presided for nearly 16 years at track and field's governing body, pocketed more than 1 million euros ($A1.5 million) in what prosecutors suspect was a corrupt scheme to blackmail athletes in exchange for hushing up suspected doping.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
The IAAF has suspended Russia from international competition. Its athletes could miss the 2016 Rio Olympics if their federation doesn't take remedial steps against widespread, systematic and allegedly state-sanctioned doping detailed in a damning report from a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigative committee.
According to Le Monde, Diack told questioners he asked for the money from Valentin Balakhnichev, then president of the Russian track federation. The paper reported Diack said he wanted to finance the Senegalese political opposition against then-President Abdoulaye Wade.
"I told him that to win the elections, I needed about 1.5 million euros," Diack said, according to Le Monde. "He said to me, 'We'll try to find it, no problem'."
Contacted by Le Monde, Balakhnichev denied having had such a conversation with Diack.
Without saying directly that Moscow paid him to look the other way, Diack drew a link between Russian political financing and local doping cases, according to Le Monde excerpts.
"At that time, there was these problems of suspending Russian athletes a few months ahead of the world championships in Russia," the paper quoted Diack as telling police. "We came to an agreement - Russia paid. Balakhnichev organised all of that."
Contacted by AP, Balakhnichev said: "My position on Diack's statement is in the Le Monde newspaper". Diack's lawyer, Christian Charriere-Bournazel, would have no comment before Saturday morning, his office told AP.
Le Monde quoted Balakhnichev as saying: "Neither I nor my federation was implicated in such a discussion or affair with Mr Diack. This type of business is not in our interest or within our power. We cannot interfere in the internal affairs of Senegal."
In Senegal, President Macky Sall's Alliance for the Republic party denied receiving funding from Diack for his 2012 campaign.
"Lamine Diack had not financed the campaign of the candidate Macky Sall in 2012, either directly or indirectly," party spokesman Seydou Gueye said.
Dick Pound, head of the WADA committee that investigated Russia doping, said on Friday his panel has not turned up the Senegalese political angle in its probe.
"I have no idea what that is meant to do, whether it's the truth or whether it's an attempt (by Diack) to try to demonstrate that he wasn't doing this for personal gain," Pound told AP.
The French prosecutor's office said it had no comment on Le Monde's report.
