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German doctor Mark Schmidt cops almost five years in prison and $191,000 fine for leading international blood doping ring
15 Jan 2021 17:48
The German doctor at the center of a ring that helped athletes to make blood transfusions in a bid to enhance their performance at competitions has been jailed for four years and eight months by a Munich court.
Along with the jail term, the doctor was slapped with an additional three-year ban from practicing medicine, as well as a fine of $191,000.
The scandal erupted almost two years ago when Austrian police raided the Nordic Ski World Championships in February 2019 and arrested several top athletes hours before the race.
Schmidt admitted his guilt but insisted he hadn’t organized an illegal doping ring, claiming he had only met the demand of athletes who requested performance-enhancing medicine.
He apologized last week for involving four other co-defendants in the scandal who were given suspended sentences by the court. “I took a wrong turn - it’s all my fault,” Schmidt said. “I am infinitely sorry that I dragged the other four into it.”
He is the first active physician in Germany to receive a significant jail sentence for doping offences.
Probably has less to do with corruption than incompetence, or perhaps arrogance, but, you never know:
Dutch government resigns over child welfare scandal
Associated Press
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his entire Cabinet resigned Friday to take political responsibility for a scandal involving investigations into child welfare payments that wrongly labeled thousands of parents as fraudsters.
In a nationally televised speech, Rutte said he had informed King Willem-Alexander of his decision and pledged that his government would continue work to compensate affected parents as quickly as possible and to battle the coronavirus.
"We are of one mind that if the whole system has failed, we all must take responsibility, and that has led to the conclusion that I have just offered the king, the resignation of the entire Cabinet," Rutte said.
Not long after delivering his statement, Rutte got on his bicycle and rode to the king's palace in a forest in The Hague to formally inform him. Dutch television showed Rutte parking his bike at the bottom of steps leading into the palace and walking inside.
The move was seen as largely symbolic; Rutte’s government will remain in office in a caretaker mode until a new coalition is formed after a March 17 election in the Netherlands.
The resignation brings to an end a decade in office for Rutte, although his party is expected to win the election, putting him first in line to begin talks to form the next government. If he succeeds in forming a new coalition, Rutte would most likely again become prime minister.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
Geert Wilders, leader of the largest opposition party in the Dutch parliament, said it was the right decision for the government to quit.
"Innocent people have been criminalized, their lives destroyed and parliament was informed about it inaccurately and incompletely," he tweeted.
The Netherlands is the third European country thrown into political uncertainty this week in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. In Estonia, the government resigned over a corruption scandal, while Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte’s governing coalition is at risk of collapse after a small partner party withdrew its support.
Rutte said earlier this week that his government would be able to keep taking tough policy decisions in the battle against the coronavirus even if it were in caretaker mode. The Netherlands is in a strict lockdown until at least Feb. 9, and the government is considering imposing an overnight curfew amid fears about new, more contagious variants of the virus.
Samsung chief receives reduced 30-month jail term
over corruption scandal
18 Jan 2021 08:18
Samsung's Lee Jae-yong arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea on January 18, 2021. © Reuters / Kim Hong-Ji
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has been sentenced to two and a half years behind bars, following a new trial over a high-profile bribery scheme involving South Korea’s former president, Park Geun-hye.
The verdict was announced by the Seoul High Court on Monday, after the corruption case against Lee was sent by the country’s Supreme Court for re-trial.
The Samsung boss was found guilty of concealment of criminal proceeds, bribery, and embezzlement worth around $7.8 million, and was given a 30-month jail term. The bribery scheme involved an associate of former president Park Geun-hye, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term. Her sentence was upheld by South Korea’s top court last week.
Lee’s new sentence is twice as light as he received in 2017, when he was jailed for five years over the same case. The businessman spent a year behind bars back then, before the sentence was reduced and suspended on appeal. That year is expected to count towards the new sentence, leaving only 18 months to be served.
However, the sentence comes at an unfortunate time for Lee, as he will now be unable to oversee the inheritance process from his father, late Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, who died in October. The verdict has already tanked market shares of Samsung Electronics, which fell some four percent after the ruling was announced. The company’s affiliates, including Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung C&T also had their market value badly dented.
The Samsung chief is expected to serve time in the same jail in which he was held before – Seoul Detention Centre, located on the outskirts of the country’s capital. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Lee is set to be tested for the virus and to spend three weeks in solitary confinement until the testing process is completed.
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