The Madrid Provincial Prosecutor’s Office filed the complaint filed by the government against the actions of the former director of the Spanish Commission for Combating Doping in Sport (CELAD) José Luis Terreros, according to sources familiar with the matter. As this newspaper reports, it was the government itself that denounced Terreros to the state attorney general’s office after receiving an internal complaint for not processing the positive result of sprinter Patrick Chinedu, among other possible irregularities , such as the payment of doping controls which later did not result in appropriate sanctions for the athletes. Less than a year ago, this same prosecution considered that the opening of a file on doping athletes was “a legal imperative”, regardless of the fact that all the formal conditions were met. At the time, he did it to save Terreros in another case, as he had done in at least two other complaints.
Since at least 2018, Spain has had a problem with doping controls. The royal decree which regulated them stipulated, somewhat confusingly, that there must always be two control agents present. But at the company that carried out the doping controls, the German company PWC, there was often only one agent. There are many sporting events, including many amateurs, and going with two people multiplies the costs. CELAD knew this and the positive results obtained with a single agent followed different paths: some progressed, others remained in a drawer, others resorted… Those who were buried were never been discovered, protected by law. of data protection.
Some amateur athletes, after being sanctioned, denounced the director of CELAD, José Luis Terreros, to the prosecution. They considered that he had transgressed by handling positive tests which, according to the sanctioned athletes, did not meet legal requirements because they were carried out by a single agent.
In at least two cases, the prosecution supported Terreros. The Madrid public prosecutor’s office concluded that Terreros was obliged to open these files. On November 23, in a writing to which eldiario.es had access, he said: “Regardless of whether the formal conditions for taking urine samples have been met, [el director de la CELAD] “He was obliged by a legal imperative to initiate the disciplinary procedure after having received a communication from the laboratory concerning the alleged existence of doping substances.” And added: “All this, regardless of the number of control agents involved in taking the samples. »
But shortly after, eldiario.es revealed the case of athlete Patrick Chinedu, international sprinter with Spain, who tested positive in 2019, although he was never sanctioned. Anti-doping justified that the control having been carried out with a single agent, he was condemned to death and had not even opened it.
The case ended up in the State Attorney General’s Office, but it was sent by the government itself, when it found that Terreros refused to resign because of the scandal. Added to this was another complaint regarding the use of public funds, as doubts existed over payments to PWC. Why spend public money on controls that were not then used to sanction? The State Attorney General’s Office referred him to that of Madrid. And this one filed it again.
Last January, the government finally fired Terreros and appointed Silvia Clazón, a doctor like Terreros who lasted only eight months. In September he left his post to take up a position in Moncloa. He was replaced by Carlos Peralta, a doctor who competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
