Besseberg and Nicole Resch, secretary general of the IBU, have each relinquished their positions this week after the opening of investigations across Europe into possible doping, fraud and corruption involving Russian athletes.

Austrian Federal police raided the IBU headquarters in Salzburg following a tip-off from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Besseberg, a member of the WADA Foundation Board, denies wrongdoing and has claimed that the organisation are lashing-out in desperation.

"I heard that WADA was the initiator of this investigation, I think that now they are in a depressing situation, they have only [Grigory] Rodchenkov as a witness and nothing more," he told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. 

"I feel that they [WADA] are starting to panic a little. 

"The problem is that they are based on the testimony of one witness, and it is clear that no one believes him.

"In practice, as far as I know, they have not been able to be charged or convicted of a single practitioner of the over 1,000 practitioners [of doping in Russia]."

Rodchenkov, the former Moscow Laboratory director who has since fled to United States and become the main whistleblower in all the investigations into Russian doping at events including the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. 

It was his testimony to the New York Times in 2016 which led to the McLaren Report, setting into motion a chain of events culminating in Russia's neutral participation at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in February. 

But 28 of the 39 Russian athletes sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in connection with doping had their suspensions overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Full reasoned explanations for CAS' decisions have been repeatedly delayed and are not expected for at least another week. 

Besseberg has also confirmed that he has stood-down from his WADA position as the investigation unfolds.

The IOC have also confirmed to insidethegames that Resch has been removed from her position on the Beijing 2022 Coordination Commission, which was directly related to her IBU role.

Austrian prosecutors have revealed in a statement that the alleged wrongdoing at the IBU covered a period from 2012 until the 2017 World Championships in the Austrian resort of Hochfilzen.

It is not clear if the 2017 reference refers to cases themselves or that athletes implicated earlier being allowed to compete there - thus giving Austrian authorities jurisdiction for an investigation.

The suspected bribes are claimed to amount to $300,000 (£211,000/€243,000). 

Police also revealed they are treating €35,000 (£19,000/$27,000) earned in prize money as fraudulent earnings, if it was awarded to athletes implicated in doping cases who should not have been cleared to compete.

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov has called for proof of IBU complicity to be published

"If there are concrete violations and evidence of guilt, let's work together and punish," he told R-Sport.

"If not, let's stop the unfounded accusations."

Austria's Klaus Leistner, a vice-president responsible for finance, has taken over the operational running of the IBU following Besseberg's departure.