DAKAR, Senegal — Papa Massata Diack, a sports official accused of participating in one of biggest corruption schemes ever in global sports, is a familiar face at Senegal’s swankiest hotels. He was greeted by half a dozen people before he reached the back of the lobby of the Pullman Teranga last week.
Wearing his usual white boubou, Diack, 52, settled into a corner table overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. His sister Awa carried a black backpack, which held a large file of documents that Diack had compiled to defend himself.
The criminal accusations against Diack are so numerous and so varied that Diack suggested a plan for an interview: Awa would take notes and then, eventually, retrieve documents, including several news media reports, from the file that has been expanding as the accusations have grown.