UCI management committee member says ethics commission is not sufficiently neutral, sends dossier to USADA
UCI management committee member Igor Makarov has said that he will hand over a dossier he commissioned investigating alleged unethical behaviour by UCI president Pat McQuaid and others, but only on the condition that a fully independent body investigates it.
The Russian is commenting in the wake of the leaking of a document summarising the dossier, plus demands from McQuaid that the original file is handed over to the UCI ethics commission.
McQuaid and the UCI have reportedly complained to that commission about Makarov and fellow management committee member Mike Plant over the dossier, with the Irish UCI president insisting he is fully innocent of claims made against him.
Those claims include allegations of improper behaviour in relation to Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, cycling teams and the Vrijman report.
According to a letter obtained by Telegraph Sport, Makarov wrote to the ethics commission president Pieter Zevenbergen and said that he would only hand over the dossier if “an external and independent panel of experts is appointed to proceed with such investigations.”
He has given two examples he feels show that the commission is not neutral, saying the fact that the commission’s secretary is also the UCI’s legal services manager is “a basic demonstration of the absence of independency of your commission vis-à-vis the UCI management and of your clear incapacity to maintain any confidentiality of the investigation.”
This claim was stated to VeloNation earlier this week by Plant, as well as another comment which is echoed by Makarov. The latter said that the fact that McQuaid knows about the status of the ethics commission’s activities in relation to a probe about him is what he termed “another obvious demonstration – if necessary – that the requested confidentiality and the essential protection of witnesses could not be provided by your commission, not to mention the total absence of independency.”
However providing a neutral panel is convened to examine the dossier, he said he is willing to hand it over.
“I reiterate my strong wish to fully collaborate with the UCI ethics commission at the non-negotiable condition that an external panel of experts be appointed to carry out the investigation in total independency and impartiality,” he said.
According to the Telegraph, Makarov has also confirmed that the dossier has been send to the US Anti Doping Agency, which conducted a long and ultimately fruitful investigation into Armstrong, the US Postal Service team and others.
Due to ongoing meetings, a request for comment from the agency has not yet been answered.
McQuaid has denied the claims, criticising to what he said is “gangster politics” and has said the document is a “complete fabrication.”