Journalist clarifies situation as he prepares to take on UCI chiefs
As his position moves from defence to attack in terms of his legal battle with the current UCI president Pat McQuaid and the former head Hein Verbruggen, Paul Kimmage has received additional support from donors who want to contribute to his case.
A fund set up in September to help him fight a defamation claim launched by the UCI duo stood at $85, 834 on Thursday. This was at the point in time when he launched a complaint in the Swiss courts, requesting a criminal investigation for ‘slander/defamation, denigration and for strong suspicions of fraud.’
Since then, the fund has continued to grow and at the time of writing, 3004 contributors have provided a total of $89, 781.
However as McQuaid and Verbruggen put their own suit on hold last week, saying that they would suspend it until an independent commission looked into the Armstrong doping affair and the UCI’s handing of it, Kimmage’s case is no longer about defence.
While there is a chance that the UCI duo could relaunch their case down the line, the ball is in Kimmage’s court at the moment and he will seek to use his own legal action to determine if there was indeed corruption in the UCI.
Asked by Dublin radio station 98FM what would happen if those who donated had concerns about the shift from defence to attack, Kimmage made clear that they would be listened to.
“At the moment I haven’t touched a cent of it, although I have spent some money myself on this. Those who have donated will be given the choice whether they want to continue to donate to it to what is now an offence fund or whether they want to withdraw the money. It is totally up to them what they want to do with it,” he said.
“If they are not happy with the course of events, they will be more than entitled to receive their money back. There is no problem with that at all. Ultimately, I said from the get-go that when the fund was set up, that in a scenario that I would win the case or the case was dropped, all the money would be refunded to the donors. And that is very much the case as we sit here today.”
The fund was set up by the websites www.cyclismas.com and www.nyvelocity.com, and representatives from both are administering the fund.
While some Twitter and Facebook comments have indeed noted that the fund is no longer specifically about defence, thus changing the original terms, there have been others who have applauded Kimmage’s decision to effectively petition the Swiss public prosecutor to examine the UCI.
The governing body has insisted that it is blameless in relation to the Armstrong/US Postal Service affair, and that it had no way of knowing about the widespread doping in place.
Also see: Kimmage speaks about his legal action, says McQuaid and Verbruggen need to be removed immediately.