The anti-doping laboratory located in the city of Bucharest, capital of Romania, saw two of its top officials dismissed from their posts recently, as an investigation conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found they covered up positive doping samples.
Per a Reuters report, a whistle blower approached WADA with allegations about the laboratory, which led to the investigation.
WADA’s Director of Intelligence and Investigations, Gunter Younger said at a WADA symposium last week, “We started an investigation, we looked into email communications and interviewed people,” he said at a WADA symposium at Lord’s cricket ground. “And we could establish that actually there was a cover-up, at least two samples we could definitely say.
“We could establish that the director and the deputy director were involved in the cover-up,” he stated.
Per the report, WADA could not find a specific reason for the director’s actions, which has lead to an extended investigation being opened into an ‘outside entity.’
In March of this year, WADA officially suspended the Bucharest laboratory’s accreditation after a provisional suspension issued in November of 2017 for violations to the International Standard of Laboratories (ISL).
The Bucharest lab is the only WADA-accredited lab in Eastern Europe.
