Nick Davies has announced he will step aside from his role as the director of the IAAF’s president’s office while an ethics board investigates allegations of unethical behaviour against him.

French newspaper Le Monde have obtained a copy of an email sent by Davies, the IAAF’s former director of communications and now right-hand man to president Seb Coe, in which he appears to seek to delay the identification of Russian drug cheats in the run-up to the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

In the email sent to Papa Massata Diack – the son of former president Lamine Diack and who has rejected allegations of alleged extortion and bribery – Davies appears to look to minimise the impact of naming Russian athletics who have failed drug tests.

Davies has denied any wrongdoing and said in a statement: “In order to demonstrate that I am willing to have all allegations of unethical behaviour on my part in 2013 properly and fairly investigated I have referred my emails to Papa Massata Diack in 2013, my statements and the circumstances of the emails to the IAAF Ethics Board.

“I have decided to step aside from my role with the IAAF until such time as the Ethics Board is able to review the matter properly and decide if I am responsible for any breach of the IAAF Code of Ethics.”

Davies added: “In statements over recent days I have underlined that one of my key responsibilities is to manage and promote the reputation of the IAAF.

“What has become apparent today is that I have become the story. This is not helpful at the current time, with ongoing criminal investigations by the French police, the

IAAF’s Ethics Board or WADA – all of whom I have voluntarily offered full assistance to and will continue to do so.”

Last week the IAAF ethics commission concluded a three-day hearing into Diack Junior, IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, former IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dolle and the Russian federation’s former chief coach for long-distance athletes, Alexei Melnikov.

The officials faced disciplinary hearings on charges that they covered up doping offences, with all four charged with various breaches of the IAAF’s code of ethics.

Lifetime bans could be handed down, with a decision expected to be announced in early January, but Diack Junior has denied the    charges.

“There was no extortion of funds from any athlete,” he told the BBC.

“I’ve never met any athlete, any agent, any person in the world… asking to have a payment.

“I deal with corporate sponsors, I deal with governments, I deal with municipal government, I deal with Olympic committees. I never dealt with any athlete or any agent, so I reject those allegations.”

The IAAF charges involve Russian runner Liliya Shobukhova, the former London marathon winner who turned whistleblower for the World

Anti-Doping Agency earlier this year, and money she paid to have her doping violations covered up. The IAAF has banned Russia from international competition after a report by the WADA’s independent commission, headed by Dick Pound.