The violations relate to the submission to World Athletics of a competition result for Smajlaj that contributed to him securing a universality place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The trio have been charged for breaches of integrity standards in the code - honesty, maintaining integrity of competition, failure to report, and complicity.

Each have been provisionally suspended pending the outcome of their cases before the disciplinary tribunal.

Their charges stem from a series of alleged actions following the Dita E Kërcimeve Competition held on May 8 2021 in the Albanian capital of Tirana in which Smajlaj competed and placed first with a distance of 8.16 metres.

It is alleged that false information was submitted to World Athletics and the AIU in support of this competition result.

"The AIU's mandate is to ensure clean and fair competition, and to hold anyone who may have breached the Integrity Code of Conduct accountable for their actions, including high-ranking officials," said AIU head Brett Clothier.

"Competition manipulation is a serious threat to the integrity of athletics and the AIU is committed to protecting our sport from it."

The AIU has said that it will make no further comment on the matter until the cases have been resolved.

Albania is among seven World Athletics member federations on the global governing body's competition manipulation watch list following the AIU's investigation of 17 reports of suspicious competition results during the qualification period for last year's Olympic Games.

Albanian sprinter Klodiana Shala was previously found guilty of committing an anti-doping offence at London 2012 by the International Olympic Committee.

She failed a drugs test for banned steroid stanozolol after the retesting of samples from the Games.