Yesterday, 31st October 2012

http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=26537

Former cycling champion Tony Rominger has denied that his management company has allegedly been implicated in a system of money laundering and fraud linked to an alleged doping ring involving his former trainer Michele Ferrari.

Gazzetta dello Sport printed details from the Padova-based doping investigation into Ferrari’s activities earlier this month, outlining how public prosecutor Benedetto Roberti discovered a series of contracts and secret payments totalling €30m. It is alleged that riders avoided tax by recycling money via Gibraltar, Monte Carlo, Switzerland and South America.

The Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick published allegations that money from Ferrari’s activities passed through Rominger’s management company, but in a statement on Monday, Rominger denied the accusation.

“Tony Rominger formally contests these accusations of tax evasion and money laundering being reported in the media,” read the statement, according to AFP. The statement added that Rominger had “never been called upon to provide information to the penal, civil or administrative judicial system — either Swiss or Italian.”

“There were never any sums of money transferred from an account of the sports management agency Tony Rominger Management Limited, founded by Tony Rominger, to a Swiss bank account that was related to Michele Ferrari’s business.”

Rominger was coached by Ferrari during a career that saw him win the Vuelta a España three times (1992-94), the Giro Italia (1995) and break the world hour record (1994). Rominger claimed that he has not been in contact with Ferrari “for very many years.”

Following his retirement from cycling in 1997, Rominger became a rider agent, and some of his past clients include Cadel Evans, Alexandre Vinokourov and Patrick Sinkewitz. Evans recently admitted that Rominger arranged for him to take a fitness test under Ferrari’s supervision in 2000, but said that there was “never any discussion of doping or any sign of anything illegal.”