Federal Court decides ASADA/AFL investigation into Essendon was lawful, dismisses applications by Bombers and James Hird
ESSENDON players are staring at doping bans after the club and James Hird failed in a court bid to throw out the ASADA/AFL investigation.
Justice John Middleton struck down every objection against ASADA and AFL’s joint investigation into the Bombers, saying it was conducted under the paramaters of the law.
The Bombers were also ordered to pay costs.
Essendon and Hird argued in a three-day hearing in August that ASADA had gone beyond its lawful powers in conducting the joint investigation into the supplement program at Essendon.
“I will order the dismissal of the application by Essendon and Mr Hird,” Justice Middleton said.
“The nature and the conduct of the investigation was lawful.”
Justice Middleton said even if he had found the investigation was unlawful he would not have set aside the 34 show-cause notices issued to current and former Essendon players for the alleged use of banned peptide Thymoson beta-4.
He said the interim report provided to the AFL on August 2 last year was also lawful and dismissed objections to ASADA and the AFL sharing information, saying they did not breach ASADA’s confidentiality laws.
He said Hird and the players voluntarily took part in interviews knowing both ASADA and AFL representatives were in the room.
“It can hardly be said Mr Hird and the Essendon players did not consent to the information being disclosed to all in the interview room,” he said.
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