RP Thursday May 24th 2012
GRAHAM GREEN "FITZSIMONS GIVES UP PURSUIT OF
LEGAL COSTS .....
"PAUL FITZSIMONS, who last December emerged from the biggest corruption investigation in the history of British racing without a stain on his character, has been forced to admit defeat in his bid to recover a proportion of the legal costs of close to £90,000 he incurred in clearing his name.
The BHA slammed the door to any further discussion of the issue when informing the jockey-turned-trainer he will not receive a penny after the disciplinary panel decided he was not unfairly treated. There is no appeal against the ruling.
"Fitzsimons, who was acquitted of being part of a conspiracy, of supplying inside information and of deliberately riding to lose on IT'S A MANS WORLD at Lingfield at Lingfield in February 2009, exhausted his life savings to fight the case and is angry at being refused ant recompense from the governing body that brought the charges against him.
"KIRSTY MILCZAREK, who was involved in the same inquiry and had her two- year ban overturned last month, is also understood to be planning to seek compensation for her legal expenses, but is likely to channel her claim through the BHA's appeal board, which can sanction payments up to £20,000, a route denied Fitzsimons, as he was found not guilty on all counts.
"His plight not only highlights an apparent contradiction in how racing's disciplinary process operates, but also looks certain to produce renewed calls for the creation of a central fund to help meet defence costs in the most serious cases heard by the BHA, a move advocated by the Professional Jockeys Association.
" Fitzsimons, who retired from the saddle to concentrate on training at Saxton Gate Stables in Lambourn following the death of his partner Julia Tooth in December 2010, has been advised by his legal team that pursuing a case through the civil courts would offer little prospect of success and that he could be ordered to pay the BHA's costs if unsuccessful.
"I've no money left so there is nothing I can do but accept it, although I'm very unhappy," said Fitzsimons, "I would have been hung, drawn and quartered had I not fought the charges and my legal team were brilliant, so in that respect the money was well spent, but I believe I am entitled to at least some of it back as I hadn't done anything wrong."
"Fitzsimons, who had to remortgage his home, has been forced to stop work on the new boxes being built in his yard as he was anticipating a cheque from the BHA to finish the project.
"He added: I'm delighted Kirsty won her appeal and good luck to her if she gets compensation, but I don't even get a sniff at the door and that can't be right. I would bite the BHA's hand off if they offered me £20,000, but from the email I got from them I won't be getting anything."
"In a statement, the BHA said: "The disciplinary panel received an application for costs from Paul Fitzsimons . In his own application Mr Fitzsimons does not contend that there is any provision in the rules which empowers the panel to make any award of costs against the BHA.
"However, it is also true that Mr Fitzsimons was not treated unfairly in being proceeded against by the BHA, and if the panel did have the power to award costs to people treated unfairly, it would not exercise it in this case."
"The statement added: Fitzsimons relies essentially on the fact that he always gave a clear and consistent account of his ride of' IT'S A MANS WORLD and that the evidence against him did not change from the outset of the investigation. But it falls way short of establishing unfair treatment. The panel felt he had a serious case to answer on the basis of the material put before it by the BHA. Although the panel came to a different conclusion about Fitzsimons' ride than the BHA advocate, the BHA's contentions were neither improper nor based on flimsy grounds."
J MARGARET CLARKE TURFCALL COMMENT - CALLING INTO QUESTION
THIS BHA QUOTE
"THE BHA's CONTENTIONS WERE NEITHER IMPROPER NOR BASED ON
FLIMSY GROUNDS ... "
THIS IS actually a case of improper BHA justice/judgement based upon flimsy grounds, due to the fact that the BHA disciplinary panel are all Bloodhorse Illiterate so this immediately places all the issues in contention out of context.
The BHA are punishing people for achieving True Professional Bloodhorse Literacy in their own right, both In the Saddle and Out of the Saddle, both in Theory and in Practice. For this reason the BHA's working practices are redundant, estranged, not fit for purpose.How much damage money do the BHA owe Paul Fitzsimons? And all the others who have been prosecuted unjustly same?
TURFCALL - JOIN UP - KEEPING WATCH OVER OVER
THE BRITISH HORSERACING AUTHORITY
BHA FAILED WORKING PRACTICES
THROUGH BLATANT BLOODHORSE ILLITERACY
THROUGH BLATANT BLOODHORSE ILLITERACY
BRITISH
HORSERACING GOVERNMENT - - OUT OF
CONTEXT
OUT OF BOUNDS
By Graham Green 7:52AM 20 OCT 2011
"JOCKEYS Paul Doe, Greg Fairley, Kirsty Milczarek, Jimmy
Quinn and rider-turned-trainer Paul Fitzsimons all face the prospect of being
banned from racing following the latest corruption inquiry, which commences at
the BHA headquarters in London
"All five are charged with conspiring to commit a corrupt
or fraudulent practice, passing information for reward and deliberately not
riding a horse to obtain the best possible placing for personal reward, or in
the knowledge it had been laid to lose, an offence for which the penalty is a
disqualification of five to 25 years.
"All insist they are innocent of any wrongdoing concerning
the ten races at Lingfield, Wolverhampton, Kempton, Bath
"The inquiry could not have come at a worse time for the BHA
as it grapples to resolve the controversy surrounding the introduction of the
new whip rules and penalties.
"Details of another two corruption cases were due to be
made public this week, but the announcement has been delayed with the BHA
unwilling to volunteer information guaranteed to bring more negative headlines
for the sport.
"Ten days have been set aside for the hearing, although,
due to the complicated nature of the case, the accused can expect to wait
beyond that before learning their fates as the disciplinary panel is likely to
require time to consider its verdicts.
"Fairley faces three charges of intentionally failing to
ensure that his horse ran on its merits, Doe two and Quinn, Milczarek and
Fitzsimons one each, and all are alleged to have communicated directly or
indirectly to one or more betting exchange accountholders, for material reward,
gift, favour or benefit in kind, information relating to the prospects of the
horses named.
"All the jockeys have continued to ride, with differing
levels of success, since the charges were announced five months ago when the
BHA was compelled to act after rumours of impending prosecutions sparked
fevered press speculation and cast a shadow over the whole weighing room.
"Sines and Crickmore no longer have horses in training,
but both are expected to be legally represented at the hearing from which the
media is barred from attending.
