By Susan Westemeyer
The end of the Spanish court case against Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes doesn't mean an end to Jan Ullrich's legal problems - on the contrary, investigations continue in both Germany and Switzerland.
"That has no effect" on the German investigation, said Fred Apostel, prosecuting attorney in Bonn, Germany. "We have requested the documents through the court in Bonn and Madrid has agreed to send them."
Apostel also explained to Süddeutsche Zeitung that he is not willing to reach a settlement with Ullrich. It was reported over the weekend that Ullrich's attorney had tried to make a deal with the investigators, under which the German would pay a fine in exchange for having the case closed.
"That kind of settlement would be the equivalent of a guilty plea," Apostel said. "Under our rules, there must be evidence of guilt for such a settlement," he stated, adding, "The investigation is continuing, we will never take advantage of something that would simply lighten our work."
Apostel told the Cologne, Germany, Express newspaper that "In the next few days a doctor from the Bundeskriminalamt will fly to Spain and pick up the bags of blood which have been identified with Jan Ullrich, so that we can compare them with his DNA sample."
The Swiss remain on the case, too. "I just talked to the UCI's attorney," said Bernhard Welten, who is handling the investigation for Swiss Cycling. The UCI "is a private participant in the case and has access to all the documents." Welten still does not know when he will receive the final papers, but he will wait.
