A fund established to cover Paul Kimmage’s legal costs in his case with the UCI, Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen stands at $92,340 as it enters its final week before closure.
It was established by http://nyvelocity.com/, where people have been donating online using their credit cards. It is set to close next Saturday, December 1st.
It was initially established to help Kimmage pay for his legal costs when he was being sued by UCI president Pat McQuaid and its former president Hein Verbruggen. Both men claimed they had been defamed by journalist Kimmage and called corrupt.
However, last month the UCI announced the case was being suspended pending the outcome of a review into the organisation’s handling of the Lance Armstrong affair. Kimmage has since lodged criminal allegations against McQuaid and Verbruggen in Switzerland and is waiting to hear back from the Swiss authorities as to whether they will act on the complaints and launch a criminal probe.
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The money in the Kimmage fund is now to be used for that action, if it goes ahead. Anyone who donated when the fund was a defensive one can request a refund now that Kimmage is pursuing McQuaid and Verbruggen rather than being pursued by them.
In a statement issued on November 1st on Kimmage’s behalf by his Swiss-based lawyer, the Dubliner revealed he had made a complaint to the Swiss prosecutors’ offices with a view to commencing criminal probes into McQuaid and Verbruggen.
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He lodged a formal complaint saying both men should be investigated for “slander/defamation, denigration” arising from the way they spoke about him when they were suing him.
He alleges he was “called a liar in public and accused in public of committing offences against the honour…. of the highest officials of the International Cycling Union (UCI)”.
In relation to Verbruggen, he has gone much further and lodged a more serious criminal complaint.
He alleges that Verbruggen “directly or indirectly” granted assistance to Lance Armstrong in the American’s gaining of significant sums of money both in and out of competition while he was taking drugs.
Kimmage said he expects to hear from the Swiss prosecutors in coming weeks as to whether his allegations are to spark a formal investigation.
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