Supervisory council recommends firing Russian anti-doping chief Yuri Ganus amid financial irregularities

The supervisory council of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has recommended that the Board of founders dismiss the organization’s chief, Yuri Ganus, following an audit that discovered financial violations.

“Today the Supervisory Council has recommended the removal of Yuri Ganus from RUSADA’s post of general secretary. The decision was made by a majority vote, with six members voting for and only one against. I voted against this initiative,” council member Sergei Krychikov said.

READ MORE: WADA suspends Moscow anti-doping lab over data manipulation that Russians say were accessed from abroad

The proposal to dismiss Russia’s anti-doping boss came just three weeks after the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) published a report that uncovered financial irregularities at RUSADA.

The financial check was initiated by the ROC and the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) after the Supervisory Council  voiced ‘reasonable doubts’ about the ‘completeness and reliability’ of an audit initially submitted by Ganus.

Ganus, who denies all the allegations, said that these are attempts to discredit him.

“Everyone can take decisions which they [the founders] will be responsible for. I think that the decision to dismiss me will have serious consequences, including withholding RUSADA’s compliance status, because it was the key factor in WADA’s Road Map,” Ganus said.

Last year, Russia was handed a four-year ban from major sporting events over alleged manipulations of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory data.

RUSADA was also declared non-compliant with the WADA code, with Ganus being the only Russian official who acknowledged that data handed over to WADA had been manipulated.