As reported in our previous article, Yves Aubry, President of the European Bridge League, spoke about the EBL Investigation Committee work during the NBO’s Officer Seminar, held from January 28 to 31, 2016 in Rome.
In his speech Mr Aubry did not refer to the reports of the Investigating Committee on the cheating scandals but just about the procedure and the duty of the EBL President to have a fair disciplinary process.
He said that: “The President of the EBL must stand back from the investigation and disciplinary procedures and I will stick to that. But the President of the EBL is responsible for the establishment of the investigation procedure, for the transfer of any cases to the disciplinary commission, for the respect of the law both on the EBL side or the accused players. The President of the EBL must do everything to ensure that everything is organised in the best possible way in content, in format, in reasonable time, with adequate communication and with the help of professional jurists.”
Then Mr Aubry closed his speech by all the other problems linked, who will come later like: other possible cases, actions from NBO’s, or ACBL for the same players, reciprocity, ranking in Opatija, and of course prevention.
Important news is expected next week. If the President will decide to transmit one or more cases to the Disciplinary Commission, first the involved players will be informed and then a statement will be published on the EBL site.
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Laura Camponeschi
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It’s not clear exactly what is going to happen. Is one to understand that the Investigatory Committee has completed investigation of one or more cases? Is there any clue or indication as to which ones that might be? (Assuming, of course, that as it says the accused players or pairs have been informed.) And what are the respective roles of the Investigatory Committee and the Disciplinary Commission, is the IC kind of like the prosecutor who delivers an indictment or charge sheet, and the Disciplinary Commission kind of a court that makes the final decision on guilt or innocence, and metes out punishment as appropriate? Or is there some other division of responsibility that hasn’t been described. It certainly would be interesting to know….
More detailed information may be available — or it may not — from NBO officials who attended the just-concluded NBO Officials Seminar in Rome, which ended on Sunday. Let’s hope some of those officials will be able to fill in the blanks…
THE FOG HAS NOT LIFTED. So far it has not been possible to get more detailed information on exactly what the EBL is going to do. Several sources who have been asked say they cannot provide details, which I assume to mean either because those details were not disclosed by Mr. Aubry or because the sources know things but have taken a kind of “omerta,” a vow of silence not to disclose them. Not the number of cases involved, not specifics on which of the possible accused pairs (Fisher/Schwartz, Fantunes, Balicki-Zmudzinski, Smirnov-Piekarek or possibly even others) are covered.
That’s both frustrating and understandable; it seems proper for the EBL to inform accused players or pairs before its findings are made public.
The only tiny hint seems to be a general feeling that what the EBL plans to announce next week is/are final decision/s, not interim findings. But even that is an assumption, not verified fact.