THE man at the centre of the Essendon doping scandal, sports scientist Stephen Dank, has labelled the suspension of 34 current and former players as “laughable and based on absolutely no evidence”.

Dank, who was in charge of the AFL club’s controversial supplements program in 2011-12, maintains he is innocent of any wrongdoing and says he is planning legal action against the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority “later in the year”.

Asked about today’s ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to ban the players until November after they upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency against an AFL tribunal decision to clear the players of taking the banned peptide thymosin beta-4 in 2012, Dank said:

“I think it is laughable,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“I never administered it, I didn’t source it and it was never given to them. There is no evidence that I gave it to them, there is no evidence I bought it or ever sourced it.

media_camera Stephen Dank today described CAS’ findings on Essendon as ‘laughable’

“There is no evidence they even took a substance called thymosin beta-4. They have been found guilty of taking it when there is absolutely no evidence to support the charge.

“There’s been no evidence of it being provided, no evidence of it being sourced and there has been not one positive test.

They have been found guilty of taking it when there is absolutely no evidence to support the charge.

Stephen Dank

“How can the charge possibly be sustained under those circumstances?”

Dank’s repeated denials, however, overlook the fact WADA found “abnormally” high amounts of thymosin beta-4 in the frozen urine samples collected from players on Essendon’s 2012 player list.

Asked if he had done anything wrong, Dank said:

“Nothing. Everything I have done was done with the full knowledge of the club, the hierarchy and the players. I have said that all along. It’s consistent with everything I have said from day one.

media_camera Jobe Watson could be stripped of the Brownlow Medal he won in 2012.

I know who is to blame but I’m just going to sit back and do what I have been doing for the past three years

Stephen Dank

“I feel for the players. The media has attacked this story a million miles an hour and have never got to the bottom of anything and have never wanted to challenge anything.”

Dank said he is in no hurry to clear his own name, claiming he has 24 legal actions pending against various media outlets.

“I know who is to blame but I’m just going to sit back and do what I have been doing for the past three years and we’ll roll out our legal cases which have started,” he said.

“We won our first one before Christmas. Now I understand they are just defamation cases. They are not big cases against ASADA and the AFL but we will be rolling them out later in the year.

“I’m not about to change that strategy. At no stage have I ever changed my story.”

Originally published as Dank blasts ‘laughable’ Bombers ban