PtG Article 04.04.2016

Claims spread doping cloud to include UKAD and Premier League

New investigations by German ARD and The Sunday Times reveal a British ‘doping-doctor’ and claim that UK anti-doping has not acted sufficiently on whistleblower information.

According to the most recent revelation from German ARD’s doping team and journalist Hajo Seppelt in cooperation with The Sunday Times, Dr. Mark Bonar, a UK physician has been supplying top athletes with performance enhancing drugs.

Bonar’s list of clients includes Premier League footballers, tennis professionals and Tour de France cyclists among many others, Bonar tells on hidden camera recorded by an undercover reporter.

On one take, the 38-year-old doctor, who runs his practice from a private clinic in London, talks in details about his work, which includes prescribing performance-enhancing substances to top athletes.

According to the report, a convicted doper, who had had contact with Dr. Bonar, shared this information with the UK anti-doping agency (UKAD) in the hope that his punishment could be lessened.

The whistleblower’s plan, however, never succeeded since the UKAD dismissed his claims saying that they did not find enough evidence to initiate an investigation.

After the new information, provided by ARD and The Sunday Times, the UKAD intends to initiate an independent review to look into claims that the anti-doping agency failed in relation to the information provided by this whistleblower, says a statement from the UKAD.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester, the Premier League clubs that were mentioned in the report, reject the claims.

More information

 
 

Watch the ARD news report

Read The Sunday Times' report (behind paywall)

UKAD statement about the report