No end to cycling scandal

2006-08-18 15:47

Hamburg - Prosecutors on Friday did not want to rule out that a German doctor suspected of supplying doping substances in connection with a Spanish scheme may have been helped by others.

"We have indications that the suspected doctor may have supplied the Spaniard (Eufemiano) Fuentes with doping substances. We can not rule out that other people were involved," said Hans-Dieter Apel of the prosecution office in the Lower Saxony town of Goettingen which is leading the probe.

Spanish investigators allegedly believe that a doping network similar to that in their country around Fuentes exists in Germany.

Police on Thursday raided the residence of the German suspect in Lower Saxony and his office in the Helios clinic in Bleicherode which is the neighbouring state of Thuringia.

The Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) announced that "comprehensive evidence" was gathered. It reportedly includes documents, computer hardware and bank transaction receipts.

The BKA did not identify the man owing to the ongoing investigation. The suspect has been suspended from hospital duty but has so far not talked to the authorities.

Spain's leading paper El Pais reported in late July that investigators were looking into a possible German link of the affair.

Fuentes is allegedly at the centre of the Spanish scheme in which 58 cyclists have been implicated following a lengthy investigation and police raids in late May. He is suspected to have carried out illegal blood transfusions and supplied riders with doping substances.

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich of Germany and the 2006 Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso of Italy are the most prominent riders mentioned in connection with the probe.

Ullrich has protested his innocence but was kicked out of his T- Mobile team over the affair. The Swiss cycling federation has opened proceedings against him, as Ullrich has a Swiss licence as resident in that country.

El Pais also reported that American Floyd Landis, who faces being stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title due to a positive doping test there, appeared to have seen a German doctor.

But Apel said that German prosecutors had no clues on this issue as of Friday.

- SAPA