Dope probe halted
MAU suspend investigation at the request of Indonesian Games organisers
KUALA LUMPUR: The Indonesian SEA Games Organising Committee (Inasoc) have asked the Malaysian Athletic Union (MAU) to suspend the ongoing investigation into the doping scandal involving a member of the gold medal winning men’s 4x400m quartet.
MAU president Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said Inasoc had made the request through the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) and they would halt the probe carried out by the Special Doping Investigation Committee for the past three days.
“Inasoc made the directive after OCM raised doubts as to whether the B sample was sent to the antidoping laboratory in Bangkok according to the proper procedure,” he said yesterday.
The special committee is made up of members from OCM, National Sports Council, Iaafandanti-doping Agency of Malaysia.
OCM received news from Inasoc on Dec 21 that Mohd Yunus Lasaleh, a member of the men’s 4x400m relay team, and weightlifter Firdaus Abdul Razak, winner of a bronze medal, had tested positive for a banned substance.
OCM had subsequently requested that the B samples be tested as well to confirm the results.
The MAU doping committee started their investigation yesterday by questioning Yunus for an hour. The 23-year-old Sabahan, who tested positive for methandienone, faces a two-year ban.
Yunus has alleged that MAU deputy president Datuk Karim Ibrahim had ordered him to take the drug, which he was told was vitamin B Complex.
Yunus was given pills and injections by a Bulgarian doctor while he was training in Miri last September.
Shahidan said the investigation committee, head by retired judge V. C. George, would begin their probe on Karim soon
“The committee is an independent panel made up of members from the Sports Ministry, NSC, National Sports Institute (NSI), OCM and the Sports Commissioner,” said Shahidan.
Asked whether Karim, who was at the council meeting yesterday, would go on leave until the investigation is over, Shahidan said he would continue to hold his post.
He also said MAU had barred coaches and athletes from making any statement until the investigation is over.
Former national chief coach Harun Rasheed had alleged that Karim was the MAU official who told six sprinters to skip the dope test requested by NSI last May.