Kimmage disappointed over issues involving defence fund

Paul Kimmage has said that he is "very disappointed" at the news that a defence fund set up to help him in a legal battle against the cycling's governing body now has a serious question mark over it.

Kimmage was given over $90,000 in donations by fans, journalists and others last autumn, with the fund being launched by the Nyvelocity. com and Cyclismas. com websites in order to help him out after he was sued by former UCI president Hein Verbruggen and current UCI chief Pat McQuaid.

The duo, who claimed he defamed them in two articles, subsequently put that action on hold after the Lance Armstrong ruling. However, they reserved the right to reactivate it. In the meantime Kimmage launched a criminal investigation against them in Switzerland and while this was initially rejected by the public prosecutor, an appeal had been lodged.

Kimmage told The Irish Times yesterday that he may have to suspend that appeal, and that he is also vulnerable if the UCI reactivates its case because he no longer has access to the defence funds.

On Saturday he learned from Cyclismas editor Lesli Cohen that the website’s co-founder Aaron Brown had withdrawn the money without her knowledge from the site’s PayPal account and placed it in one of his own.

“After I walked out of the interview with Marian Finucane on Saturday, Lesli contacted me and told me she had concerns about the money, where it was and what it was used for,” he said. “I contacted Aaron straight away about this.

“I asked him to provide me with a statement detailing the payments that had been made from the defence fund. He refused to give me a proper statement, other than to say that there was $64,000 in it.

“I then asked him to transfer the $64,000 to a neutral account and he has refused to do that.”

Contacted yesterday, Brown said that the sum which remained from the original total represented what was left after a sum of approximately $21,000 was paid out to Kimmage’s Swiss lawyer Cédric Aguet, plus PayPal costs.

He said that he had taken on an unforeseen tax liability which Cohen was originally hit with in relation to the donations, and was trying to settle the matter.

He said that this liability was the reason why he would not transfer the money, as requested. “If the funds are released to Paul, and I do receive a tax bill which is quite huge, then there is a massive challenge,” he said.

He also said that because Kimmage’s defence case is currently on hold, that there are no pending legal costs and thus no need for funds to be issued. He said he would release funds if they were needed.

However, Kimmage has said that he can’t verify if the money is actually there. “I have no idea if what he is saying is the case or not,” he said. “I never had any control over the setting up of the fund or how it was spent.

“The bottom line is that I have had to call my lawyer Cedric and tell him to stop. That is how it affects me. It could be that the money is still there. If so, that is great, but what if it is not? I am still going to have to pay the bills at the end of the day. So I told him to stop.”

Kimmage has long been one of the most vocal critics of the UCI. McQuaid is seeking re-election as UCI president but needs to secure nomination from either the Irish or the Swiss cycling federations. The former originally agreed to propose him, but has since backed off and decided its members will vote on the matter in an egm to be held on June 15th.