Former IAAF president Lamine Diack has been placed under criminal investigation on corruption and money-laundering charges.

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The former IAAF president, Lamine Diack, is suspected of taking at least 200,000 euros (US$220,000) from Russia to cover up positive doping tests, French authorities said on Wednesday.

The judges placed Diack under formal investigation on corruption and aggravated money-laundering charges.

The French office that handles financial prosecutions said a legal adviser to Diack, Habib Cisse, was also placed under investigation by judges acting on evidence provided by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The director of the IAAF's anti-doping department, Gabriel Dolle has been taken into custody in Nice in the south of France.

An official said Diack is suspected of pocketing "about 200,000 euros" to cover up an as-yet undetermined number of doping positives.

The money is thought to have come from the Russian athletics federation, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Diack stepped down as IAAF president in August after 16 years in charge of track-and-field's governing body.