The IAAF Ethics Board has suspended three employees, including president Sebastian Coe's former chief of staff.

Nick Davies, Jane Boulter-Davies and Pierre-Yves Garnier have been provisionally suspended for 180 days as of Friday, the organisation confirmed, following an ethics investigation.

Davies, who stepped down from his role as Coe's right-hand man six months ago pending the result of the investigation, is alleged to have received "an undisclosed cash payment" in 2013 and subsequently misled IAAF investigators.

Education official Boulter-Davies and medical manager Garnier have also been suspended, with Boulter-Davies accused of misleading investigators and Garnier alleged to have received an undisclosed payment.

"There is no greater priority for the IAAF right now than to get to the truth of the allegations that have been made against the sport," an IAAF statement said. "These particular facts were made public in December 2015 and relate to allegations of a breach of the IAAF Code of Ethics.

"The IAAF welcomes these investigations by the Ethics Board and investigator Sir Anthony Hooper and thanks them for the difficult and hard work they continue to undertake on behalf of the sport and the organisation.

"As the Ethics Board statement says, each of the persons provisionally suspended 'enjoys the presumption of innocence until the outcome of the investigation and the determination of disciplinary charges, if any, brought against them'.

"It is therefore important that we let these investigations take their course without further comment."