PATAFA's Juico refutes Petrov's claims of being 'misled', says he has 'no control' over Obiena's coach

Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) president Philip Ella Juico refuted the claims made by Vitaliy Petrov that he was "misled" into answering a questionnaire to make EJ Obiena "look like a criminal."

In a statement released on Thursday, Juico said Petrov "exaggerated" the pressure he felt when answering the questionnaire, which he said the Ukrainian coach also corresponded on and emailed.

The PATAFA chief said he has no control over Petrov's "actions or decisions to contradict himself" at the twilight of his career. Through his final statement, Petrov withdrew earlier statements and documents attributed to him.

"How can Petrov be pressured, coerced, misled, or tricked by me or PATAFA when we are not even in the same continent or time zones! Obiena is, on the other hand, with him probably 12 hours a day, every day up to Saturday and with whom he goes hiking as Obiena announces in Facebook," Juico said.

"How would I control or have access to him when he himself said that Obiena built a wall between us and this 'incident,' as he calls the present investigation, would not have happened had we personally met much earlier," he added.

Juico said Petrov "was asked and he answered freely and even volunteered information." He said the coach knows the truth and is "fully aware" of the situation.

"He knows and appreciated my help and even encouraged me to report his and Sergey Bubka's statements to the PATAFA board to help recover his unpaid fees. I promised him and Sergey I would help recover the missing fees because, as Sergey Bubka said, it was embar[r]assing to the Philippines. Why would Petrov, Sergey and I invent such a story?" Juico said.

"How could I sustain an elaborate web of deception and lies with the participation of such an honorable person like Sergey Bubka, assuming Petrov was pressured into signing his statement. How does Petrov prove [t]hat? By reenacting his act of signing with his signing hand shaking from fear?" he added.

Bubka is a former athlete of Petrov and the president of the Ukraine Olympic Committee and a senior vice president of World Athletics. PATAFA said he has an affidavit supporting Petrov's statements that he did not receive payment. 

Juico also said Bubka was present in all of his conversations with Petrov regarding the issue of unpaid fees.

The PATAFA chief said the statements made by Petrov, Obiena, and Obiena's mentor James Lafferty should be investigated.

"The 'facts' that they have repeatedly layered for public consumption proves they are the ones colluding and should be the ones investigated by that code of conduct or ethics committee," he said.

The athletics chief also challenged Lafferty to release the bank transfers which the latter said was proof of payment to Petrov.

"Lafferty brags about keeping a record of wire transfers. Let him show those bank wire transfers now," said Juico.

He also said the government should take a look on how the payments to Petrov were made.

"How government funds amounting to P5 million could have been deposited by Obiena to other accounts facilitated by Lafferty, only to be belatedly paid to Petrov must be looked into by the government itself to verify Lafferty's statements," the PATAFA chief said.

"Similarly as to how multiple bank transactions could have possibly been made in the Philippines without AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) flagging should pique one's curiosity, triggered by Lafferty's 'sophisticated' banking practices. Let Lafferty answer that and he alone should answer that," he added.

On November 21, a news report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer said PATAFA directed Obiena to return 85,000 Euros of financial assistance due to "falsified liquidation," which the pole vaulter later denied.

The Philippine Sports Commission already offered to mediate between Obiena and PATAFA. Meanwhile, PATAFA and the Philippine Olympic Committee have ordered separate investigations in the matter.

—MGP, GMA News