As reported recently, the Brazilian sprinter Luciano Pagliarini decided to quit competitive cycling after the Scott - Marcondes Cesar - Fadenp São José dos Campos he was riding with in 2010 collapsed due to financial difficulties.
It now appears that the bank guarantee paid to the UCI by the team, as required by rules relating to Pro Continental teams, is a counterfeit and that the money which was supposed to be deposited in the Brazilian bank was never lodged.
According to the Pedaladas blogsite, an email was sent yesterday by the UCI to riders on the team. It stated that the UCI requested payment in August 2010, and that this did not take place. Follow up calls were made, but the UCI only discovered on November 11th that the guarantee was fake and that no money had been lodged.
The email is as follows:
Dear Sirs,
Reference is made to your request to draw on team Scott Marcondes’ bank guarantee 2010. UCI requested payment from the Brazilian bank in August 2010. Despite several reminders and phone calls, the bank has never replied to our request.
In order to obtain an official reply from the bank, UCI contacted the Spanish Santander Group, owner of the Brazilian bank. However, on 11 November 2010 the competent person of the Santander Group informed UCI that the bank guarantee seems to be a false document and that they do not recognise its validity nor their responsibility. Group Santander informed UCI that they have already registered a formal complaint before the competent police authorities.
UCI is currently examining the situation and will naturally keep you informed about the file.
Yours sincerely,
Service Juridique/Legal Services,
UCI
Pagliarini and the other riders were affected by the non-payment of salaries and the subsequent collapse of the team. The UCI withdrew its licence and the whole saga is something which was the tipping point for the Brazilian sprinter, who recently announced his retirement.
“It was a situation that generated a lot of weariness and disappointment,” he told the Brazilian site Prologo of the team’s collapse. “I returned to Brazil with a good attitude and this was proven at the start of the season [when he took three stages in the Rutas de America]. Unfortunately things went astray and nothing materialized. It was a shame.”
The payment of bank guarantees is required by the UCI when a team is applying for registration. Something clearly went wrong in the verification process, which is normally done before the licence is handed out. As a result the riders and staff have been left exposed, and in a difficult financial position; it remains to be seen what will be done to rectify things for them.