Police will hear Kari-Pekka Kyrö in November

FSA leaders deny involvement in deal over Isometsä's silence

print this

The directors of the Finnish Ski Association have always denied knowing anything about the doping abuse by Finnish skiers.
      The former head coach of Finland’s cross-country skiing team Kari-Pekka Kyrö begs to differ.
     
Most recently the relationship between the Finnish Ski Association and doping made headlines on Sunday because of the so-called “sauna contract”.
      In the contract Kyrö, the then cross-country skiing boss Antti Leppävuori, and some of the Finnish male skiers allegedly promised skier Jari Isometsä a million markka (roughly EUR 160,000) for carrying the can and keeping quiet about the matter in 2001, when Isometsä tested positive at the Lahti Nordic World Championships.
      According to announcements by the Finnish Ski Association and its then managing director Esa Klinga, the directors of the organisation were not involved in any way in organising compensation for Isometsä for taking the blame.
      As it happened, the entire contract was a dead duck within a few days, for five other Finnish skiers also tested positive and hence any claims that Isometsä might have made that it was all his own doing would have fallen on deaf ears.
     
Since September the National Bureau of Investigation (Finland’s central criminal police) has been looking into the Ski Association’s involvement in the whole sordid business.
      “A minimum staff has been involved in carrying out the groundwork. In fact, just one person has gone through all the old material regarding the case while keeping in mind the request for investigation originally issued by the State Prosecutor Pekka Koponen”, explains Det Chief Insp. Pauli Huuskonen.
      The Jyväskylä unit of the National Bureau of Investigation is yet to hear the key figure Kyrö, who has kept quiet on the matter since 2004, but has now decided to shed light on what went on.
      “We have not set any dates yet with Kyrö, but from our part the questioning will not take place until November at the earliest. After hearing Kyrö we will again have a whole bunch of new material to go through, after which we will decide together with the State Prosecutor’s Office what type of measures this may give occasion to”, Huuskonen clarifies.
     
In the police hearings the plaintiffs and the witnesses are obliged to tell the truth, the suspects are not. Will we finally get to the bottom of the truth about the connection between doping and the Finnish Ski Association?
      “I cannot start guessing since we have not heard anyone yet. One must remember that these events took place in 2001 and before that.”
     
”The core of the case is whether people spoke the truth in the old Räsänen trial, when damages were sought [against the Finnish News Agency STT, on grounds of libel].”
      Kyrö did not tell the truth then, and he was subsequently convicted of attempted fraud by the Vantaa District Court in 2004.
      “At that time there was insufficient evidence to convict anyone else. But now at least we will have Kyrö’s testimony. I don’t know if there will be others”, Huuskonen concludes.
     
     
Details of the complex skein of claims and counter-claims and the sad history of what went on in 2001 can be had from links attached to yesterday's article.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kyrö interview casts doubt on 1998 doping libel case (22.5.2008)
  Kyrö: skier Jari Isometsä was promised FIM 1 million to take fall for 2001 doping bust (13.10.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat