December 17/09 12:40 pm - Pound & UCI Settle Case

Posted by Editor on 12/17/09
 

An ongoing court case between former WADA head Richard Pound and former UCI head Hein Verbruggen has been settled, according to a release sent out by the UCI today.  While Verbruggen was still the president of the UCI a 'war of words' raged between Pound and Verbruggen over the efforts the UCI was making to combat doping in cycling (at the time, the UCI was one of the only sports bodies to delay signing on with the WADA Code.  The full text of the statement is below:

An agreement reached on 15th December, 2009 between the International Cycling Union (UCI), Mr H. Verbruggen and Mr R. Pound means that the litigation between them, brought before the Vevey District Court, will no longer be pursued.

Richard Pound acknowledges the fact that some of his comments reported in the media might have seemed excessive if they were interpreted to mean that the UCI and Hein Verbruggen were doing nothing to combat doping. This applies to an even greater extent to the allegation of collusion which was never formulated as such.

Richard Pound regarded the work of the UCI as being insufficient, while the UCI and Hein Verbruggen perceived these criticisms as an attack on their integrity.

Richard Pound acknowledges the fact that the UCI is doing good work to eliminate cheats from their sport. The UCI has successively put in place new testing procedures to improve the fight against doping. It declares that it will of course continue its efforts.

However, it remains the duty of the bodies responsible for combating doping, including the WADA, to note any inadequacy on the part of any agency whatsoever with a view to making this fight more effective.

The parties hereby undertake to respect the spirit of this agreement when making any statements about the fight against doping in cycling.

The media release will take the form of this agreement. Each party undertakes to refrain from making any comments.

They hereby declare that they have thus ended their dispute and will be responsible for their own costs and expenses.