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The Spanish court didn't rule that the documents can't be used to take disciplinary action against allegedly involved
riders without a reason. It's against Spanish law that court documents are passed through to parties which are not involved
in a court case, but most of all the court noticed that they recieved documents which are partly different as the documents
that allegedly involved riders like Jan Ullrich became. Some shortnews about the current situation. We are working on an overview
of the latest events and hope to publish it later this week.
Puerto falsification: hearing on November 29
The lieutenant of the Guardia Civil who is under suspicion of falsifying Puerto documents (Cyclingheroes
reported on Saturday) will be heard during a court hearing on November 29. The hearing is part of proceedings after a claim of
prevarication and document falsification which was filed by Manolo Saiz on August 13. On Thursday October
19 German rider Jan Ullrich published a statement on his website janullrich.de, in which the German rider also stated
that the Puerto documents are falsified. The court documents seems not to be exactly the same as the documents of the
UCI, some paragraphs were suppressed and some documents are without signature. In addition some documents were forwarded without
the authorization of the Madrid court which handles the Puerto case.
UCI comments after Puerto disaster
UCI president Pat McQuaid blamed the Spanish authorities for the current situation in the Puerto scandal.
McQuaid told cyclingnews.com: ""This is very much down to the Spanish authorities. They have put us in a really ridiculous
situation. I don't know why this is happening, but from their end the whole thing hasn't been handled very well from the beginning,
in my opinion."
Although article two of the constitution of the world body says that one of the purposes of the UCI
is: "to direct, develop, regulate, control and disciplin cycling under all forms worldwide," McQuaid told French news
agency AFP on Saturday that his hands are tied. The Irish UCI president also stated that of the 58 allegedly linked riders: "12
to 14 are seriously implicated in Operación Puerto."
McQuaid also said that at least another dozen were under "some" suspicion while the rest of the 58 were implicated
only because their names appeared in documents or telephone conversations, which had been tapped by the Guardia Civil. McQuaid
didn't say which riders are seriously implicated in his opinion and which riders were only implicated because their name was
mentioned in telephone calls or appeared in some of the documents. McQuaid also didn't comment on the alleged
falsification of the Puerto documents.
Oscar Sevilla and Santiago Botero consider claims for compensation after their national federations closed
proceedings against both riders.
Will Ullrich be the Puerto scapegoat?
Jan Ullrich is the only rider left of 58 riders who has to fear disciplinary action. Although the Swiss
cycling federation didn't open a case against Ullrich, officials of the Swiss cycling federation told Swiss daily newspaper
NZZ on Saturday that they will open a case for disciplinary action before the end of the year. It's not likely the federation
will win the case because the Spanish court ruled that the Puerto documents can't be used for disciplinary action against
allegedly linked riders. The press officer of the prosecution of Bonn admitted two weeks ago that their case against
Ullrich is very difficult.
German newsagency DPA published a story on Saturday in which it also stated that Ullrich is the only
rider left who has to fear punishment. During the weekend there were a lot of debates on international and German forums with
cycling fans discussing the fact that Ullrich could become the scapegoat of the Puerto scandal, while others are convinced
Ullrich will race again in 2007. Fans of the German rider of the Ullrich fan forum www.tourgott.de started to write e-mails to officials and team managers in which they demanded that the Ullrich case will be closed.
Related stories:
Puerto: investigators under suspicion
Ullrich wants to win the 2007 edition of the Tour de France
Pro-Tour manager allows Manolo Saiz to keep Pro-Tour license
Ullrich to Volksbank?
Puerto: Ullrich not a suspect - UCI attacks ASO
Massak: "I will license him"
Are the Puerto documents falsified?
Ullrich: "character assassination campaign"
Ullrich: next round
Ivan Basso: CONI dropped charges
Operacion Puerto: evidence seems sparse and quite vage (part 1)
Operacion Puerto: evidence seems sparse and quite vage (part 2)
Operacion Puerto: "The cases have to be dealt with so they are either sanctioned or cleared"
Puerto hearing in Italy : Basso says he will return soon
Puerto: Rocco backs Ivan Basso
Swiss Cycling Federation: no suspension of Ullrich
Maybe in his next life
Swiss cycling federation: Ullrich doping case likely to be tough battle
Jan Ullrich confident
Operation Puerto
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