Swiss court rejects Ullrich appeal

The Swiss have rejected Jan Ullrich's legal bid Keystone

German cyclist Jan Ullrich has failed to prevent details of his Swiss bank account being handed over to German prosecutors investigating doping allegations.

In a decision released on Monday, the Federal Court, Switzerland’s highest instance, rejected the former Tour de France winner and Swiss resident’s final appeal to block the transfer.

Prosecutors in Bonn, in Germany, have requested the account details as part of their probe into Ullrich’s alleged links to a Spanish doping scandal, which led to his suspension from the sport last year.

Ullrich, who rode with a Swiss cycling licence before splitting with the Swiss Cycling Federation in October, announced his retirement in February.

The bank documents will be handed over to Germany this week, said Hans Ruedi Graf, chief prosecutor for canton Thurgau, Ullrich’s home canton.

A separate German request for saliva samples and other evidence taken from Ullrich’s Swiss home last September is still pending, added Graf.

The court ruled that the German request fulfilled all the requirements under Swiss law and it therefore upheld the original decision by canton Thurgau prosecutors to hand over the details.

Operation Puerto

Ullrich’s suspension from cycling, on the eve of last year’s Tour de France, came after a Spanish doping investigation known as “Operation Puerto”, which led to a host of riders being banned.

Despite always protesting his innocence, Ullrich was fired by his T-Mobile team last July.
The 33-year-old, who was born in Rostock in the former East Germany, has been under investigation since last summer although he has not been charged with any doping offence.

Swiss cycling authorities announced in December that they had halted a separate investigation into Ullrich until new evidence came to light.

Speaking when he retired, Ullrich said that he still rejected the allegations against him. “I still don’t understand why I was not allowed to compete in the Tour last year. My life as a cyclist collapsed that day,” he said.

“I’ve been painted as a criminal while I’ve done nothing wrong.”

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Jan Ullrich, who is 33, was runner up in the Tour de France five times.
In 1997 he became the first German to win cycling’s most famous race. He was also world time trial champion twice in 1999 and 2001.
He was excluded from the Tour de France in 2006, just hours before the race started, over allegations that he was implicated in a doping scandal.
He announced his retirement from the sport in February this year.