French prosecutor sees ex IAAF president's son at centre of corruption racket

PARIS (Reuters) - France's financial prosecutor on Tuesday said investigations had revealed that the son of the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was at the centre of a large corruption racket.

"The investigations revealed a large-scale system of corruption around Papa Massata Diack, son of Lamine Diack, IAAF president and influential member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)," the financial prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"There are several consistent indications that payments have been made in return for the votes of IAAF and International Olympic Committee members over the designation of host cities for the biggest global sporting events," it added.

The investigations initially targeted the award of the 2020 games to Tokyo before extending to include the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

France's deputy financial prosecutor is due to address a joint press conference with Brazilian counterparts at 1400 GMT.

(This version of the story corrects headline, para 1 to make clear it is the son of former IAAF president, not current president, under investigation)

(Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Geert De Clercq)