another one by Bruce Francis:
29 May 2017
The Hon Greg Hunt MP
Minister for Sport
Dear Minister @GregHuntMP,
CC: …@TurnbullMalcolm @TraceyLeeHolmes @athleteslawyer
Re: CAS Corruption
Yesterday, I provided you with irrefutable evidence that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panellists were inept and/or biased. Today, I am providing you with two examples of CAS corruption.
My dictionary defines corruption as “the process by which a word or expression is changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased”.
Background:
• March 9, 2012: Dank sent Hird an SMS advising that he would start intravenous treatments next week, and Thymosin.
• March 14, 2012: Dank sent Hird an SMS advising that the first 7 intravenous treatments done.
• March 21 2012: Dank sent Hird an SMS advising that ‘another 7 players were given intravenous treatments tonight’.
• March 26 2012: Dank sent Hird an email that detailed the names of 21 players whose intravenous treatments would be completed by Wednesday March 28, 2012. Invoices from Skinovate indicate that the intravenous injections were for vitamins B and C
• April 3, 2012: Dank sent an SMS to Hird advising him that we will be getting Solcoseryl
• April 3, 2012: Dank advised Dr Paul Spano, the proprietor of Skinovate [where the intravenous vitamin B and C supplements were given] that the players’ upcoming hyperbaric treatments at HyperMED ‘will be done with low dose naltrexone’.
• April 15 2012: Dr Spano sent Dank an SMS asking him to strongly reconsider the use of Melanotan as there is more downside than upside in its use and it was probably not helping the Essendon players.
• NB All of the above information was obtained from ASADA’s interim report.
Evidence of wrong-doing by CAS – Example 1:
Paragraph 126 of the Court of Arbitration for Sport Arbitral Award (the CAS ruling) states: ‘In a text message on 12 April 2012, Mr Dank told Mr Hird, "all … injections completed’, and a week later on 19 April 2012 wrote, "all injections completed for the week”’. NB CAS left out eight key words from the 19 April 2012 text which enabled it to conclude that the Thymosin injections had been completed.
My Comment:
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CAS concluded that Dank was referring to Thymosin on the basis of what Dank said in his 9 March 2012 SMS viz “he would start intravenous treatments next week, and Thymosin”.
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References from the interim report indicate that Dank was very open with what he was doing. He discussed a number of substances with non-Essendon people.
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Dank never indicated that he commenced administering Thymosin. He couldn’t commence administering either Thymomodulin or Thymosin Beta-4 until mid-May 2012 because neither was available until then.
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The CAS panel was corrupt in that it omitted eight words from the April 19, 2012 text, which enabled it to imply that the Thymosin injections had been completed. As it transpired, in that 19 April 2012 text, Dank was referring to Cerebrolysin injections administered by Dr Hooper at his HyperMED clinic. The 19 April 2012, text from Dank to Hird said: “This afternoon’s group went very well on hyperbaric. All injections completed for the week.”
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Invoices from HyperMED indicate that Dr Hooper administered 32 Cerebrolysin injections and 112 amino acid injections during this period. The amino acid, which was bought in the United States, not Mexico, as claimed by ASADA, was tested and did not contain any variety of Thymosin.
Example 2:
Paragraph 134, point (3) of the CAS decision states: On 11 January 2012, Mr Charter asked Mr Dank what peptide he needed next, to which the response was TB-4, quantity being 20 times 5ml vials, being confirmed the next day(my emphasis)
My Comment:
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It was corrupt and a lie for the CAS panel to state that Dank confirmed the next day that he wanted TB-4.
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The CAS panel quoted Dank’s 11 January response correctly. However, Dank retracted his order the next day and said that he wanted 20 vials of Thymosin (my emphasis) at 5ml per vial”.
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It is indisputable that the panel was claiming that the next day Stephen Dank said he wanted 20 vials of Thymosin Beta-4 [compounded] at 5ml per vial. The claim by the panel was a lie. Page 24 of ASADA’s interim report states that the next day “Mr Dank sent Charter an SMS seeking 20 vials of Thymosin (my emphasis) at 5ml per vial”.
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Dank claimed, as did senior ASADA official, Dr Stephen Watt in an email to WADA on 3 July 2012, that Thymosin was the generic name for the permitted Thymomodulin. Dank was quoted in the interim report using Thymosin on numerous occasions. He was only quoted using Thymosin Beta-4 once, and he retracted it the next day (12 January 2012)…
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It was duplicitous and unconscionable for the panel to combine a selection of words from the 11 and 12 January texts, with the corrupt use of a comma, to create the false impression that Dank confirmed on the following day that he wanted Thymosin Beta-4.
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Dank used the word Thymosin, not TB-4 (Thymosin Beta-4) as stated by the panel. This corrupt action alone by the panel should have be enough for someone in authority with a sense of decency to demand that the president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport declare this panel’s guilty finding null and void.
Minister, such corruption from a panel that included the former Chief Justice of the New South Wales Supreme Court demands that if you have any sense of decency, you will stop claiming that all allegations have been addressed, and you will create a Royal Commission that is tasked with investigating corruption and/or misconduct by the AFL, ASADA, WADA, CAS, VWA, ADRVP and the Ombudsman’s Office.
Yours faithfully
Bruce Francis