Tragically, for the players, there were scores and scores of examples of the investigators leading the witnesses. Space and time necessitated documenting only one example in this category. Many examples were included in the ‘Thymosin to Thymosin Beta-4’ section.
Incomprehensively, Alavi mistakenly thought that Dank told him that “there were “three different types of Thymosin – Thymosin Beta 4 then there’s Thymosin Alpha, then there’s Alpha 2 or something – or Alpha something.”
Alavi’s 29 November 2013 interview with Staffer 7 and Staffer 5 (page 259, line 26)
Transcript
Staffer 7: “Well, okay. If I put to side whether you can recall signing it, looking at the content of what’s said in there, do you agree with the content [of the letter sent by Dank to you for signing]?”
Alavi: “No, No, because I don’t know whether it’s Thymomodulin.”
Staffer 7: “Thymosin Alpha or Thymosin Beta 4.”
Alavi: “Yeah. I don t know which one it is. So, I’d have to be mad to sign this.”
Staffer 7: “And what about the backdating of it, the February date and he’s sending this to you in June?”
Alavi: Yeah. Well, he’s – he was asking me to sign this pretty much since February. (page 259, line 40): He wanted me to sign this letter and I refused to sign it because I didn’t want to have any liability on my shoulders about this. And, you know, he requested it numerous times from me. ‘Have you signed the letter yet? Have you signed the letter yet?’ And I asked him – first I said, ‘Look I need to know what the difference is between all these Thymosins because I had never heard of Thymosin before. And he said, well, there’s Thymosin Beta 4 then there’s Thymosin Alpha, then there’s Alpha 2 or something – or Alpha something. Anyway, there’s three different types.”
Alavi: “But he said Thymosin – he said – he said it in a way where they were – it’s all the same thing, like, Thymosin Beta 4, what – it’s just a different name for it. That’s the message I got from him.”
My comment: This narrative proved Alavi’s unreliability as a witness when relying on his recollection rather than on his computer records. It’s incomprehensible that Alavi, a man with a bio-chemist degree, could believe that substances labelled Alpha and Beta were the same substance. It’s staggering that Alavi described the substances as different and the same. Clearly, he misunderstood what Dank said.
Essendon AFL Drug Saga 