ADAK refutes German TV doping cover-up claims

The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) has denied claims of doping cover-up in the country as alleged by German television channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen.

ADAK Chief Executive Officer Japhter Rugut, in a press statement, discredited an expose report by ZDF that portrayed its office to be engaging in conspiracy to allow athletes use Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs).

It further alleged that the manager of Rosa & Associati SRL, Federico Rosa, was bribing ADAK’s Testing Officers so as to cover up doping activities by athletes.

“In the seven-minute video released by the Channel an ‘anonymous source’ purporting to be a manager at ADAK details how the entire Agency is compromised. Another ‘anonymous source ‘ in the clip alleges that when the ADAK Officers come across a positive case of doping they use the information to extort money, in form of bribes, from athletes’ Managers and ensure such reports are never published.

“We wish to state that while all the above information regarding ADAK and other innuendos contained in the video clip is inaccurate, the report is also factually defective,” Rugut offered to clarify.

Rugut further explained that samples are analyzed only in World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratories’ adding that the international body ensures that such labs meets the high analytical and custodial standards required.

The ADAK chief made it clear that once a sample (blood/urine) is collected from an athlete, it is transferred to a WADA Accredited lab for analysis.

Emphasizing that, the entire process is meticulously documented including at a   minimum, the date and time of sample collection, the time of change of custody from Doping Control Officer (DCO) to courier, date and time of receipt in the laboratory and the name and signature of the laboratory representative receiving the samples. This information is recorded to give chain of custody forms.

Rugut stressed out that the accredited laboratories have a system to uniquely identify the samples and associate each sample with the collection document or other external chain of custody. The name of the athlete is never included in the documentation that goes to the laboratory.

Then the laboratories analyze the samples and send the report results in the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS), which is highly secure web-based database management tool for data entry, storage, sharing and reporting designed to assist stakeholders and WADA in their Anti-Doping operations in conjunction with data projection legislation.

“It’s clear that ADAK’s role is guided by the laid international frameworks and that the Agency is just one among the many stakeholders in the anti-doping tests cycle. In addition, it is not within ADAK’s powers to cover up a positive doping case as we do not have a private laboratory where samples collected from athletes are analyzed and the results only reveled to ADAK.

“We also wish to dispel the notion that the Agency is a haven for corruption. As a State Agency established under the Anti-Doping Act 2016 ADAK is founded on a platform of integrity which is also one of our core values.

“We have legal mandate of promoting participation in sport, free from doping in order to take part in sport. Similarly, our staff are characterized by outstanding high morals and their actions are guided by adherence to the requirements of Chapter Six of the Kenyan Constitution.“

Rugut requested members of the press to demonstrate one of the core principles of journalism; that is to verify information before publishing as it is clear that no ADAK member of staff was interviews by ZDF.