Responding to a report stating that he had accused Astana CFO Aidar Makhmetov of hacking his email with the purpose of provoking a corruption case against him, Alexandre Vinokourov categorically denied the claims on Thursday.
The ex pro, who took over as Astana general manager, issued a statement via Vesti.kz saying that the story printed in Sudinfo + was incorrect.
“There was a statement in 2011 about Mr. X [an unnamed person – ed.], but in no way was that against Aidar (Makhmetov - ed.) or anybody personally,” he stated.
“The mail was hacked and I made a claim. Now the story has been turned entirely upside down and convoluted. Whomever it benefits to take this info and put somebody's name to it - I can't imagine.”
The claims related to accusations of bribery which arose two years ago when the Swiss magazine l’Illustré published a story relating to the 2010 Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Vinokourov broke clear towards the end with the Russian rider Alexander Kolobnev, and then jumped clear on the final climb before the line.
l’Illustré stated that Vinokourov promised the Katusha competitor that he would give him 150,000 euro if he was allowed to win. It printed emails between the two riders which appeared to show that a deal had indeed taken place.
This led to a UCI investigation, but the governing body said in January 2012 that it wouldn’t proceed further with it as the magazine refused to reveal its source.
Vinokourov retired from the sport after becoming Olympic road race champion in August 2012. He then became the Astana general manager.
Sudinfo + said that Vinokourov was heard last week by the prosecutor of Liège, who was investigating the claims. It made the claims about Makhmetov hacking Vinkourov’s email, something which the latter denies.
Sudinfo + also said that the Liège prosecutor closed the file, but that the investigation would likely drag on for several months after Vinokourov complained to the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Nice about the alleged hacking.
The Astana team stated Thursday that the claims about Vinokourov and Makhmetov were not true. It indicated that it wouldn’t comment further.