Statement by Professor Richard H. Mclaren in Response to the IAAF Decision

LONDON, ON, June 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Professor Richard H. McLaren, the Independent Person (IP) appointed by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to lead the team investigating allegations of manipulation of doping samples, has made the following statement in response to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council's decision today with respect to the RUSAF suspension and reinstatement process:

"In May, the Chair of the IAAF Taskforce, Rune Andersen, wrote to me asking that there be mutual cooperation between the Taskforce's legal counsel and me as the Independent Person.

I was asked to share with the Taskforce, to the greatest extent possible and as early as possible, any evidence that I obtained that sheds light on the credibility of Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov's allegations.

Although, it is very early days in my investigation, to fulfill this request and remain true to my own mandate, I prepared a letter describing the interim results from my investigation, which I have determined to be both credible and verifiable. I provided this letter to the Taskforce's legal counsel.

I have supplied the Taskforce with this material, which may be relevant to the decisions the IAAF must make, as I have full confidence that it reflects my investigation to date. This action was taken at the specific request of the Taskforce.

I wish to emphasize that the information I provided was a preliminary finding but one of which I am confident the evidence I have to date is cross-corroborated or otherwise verified. It is my view that I have the evidence to confirm the broad outline contained in my correspondence to the IAAF Taskforce legal counsel that the Ministry of Sport was involved in instructing the laboratory to not report positive sample results over the period before, during and after the IAAF Championships in 2013. 

My investigation is ongoing. I will continue my work with the objective of releasing my findings in mid-July. There will be no further comment on my investigation."

Professor McLaren was appointed by the WADA as the IP to head an investigative team charged with determining the full true facts with respect to the allegations of manipulation of doping control samples and other allegations made by Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former Director of the Moscow Laboratory accredited by WADA. The investigation was launched to establish what is in the best interest of clean sport and clean athletes.

SOURCE Richard H. McLaren