Team NZ slam ‘kangaroo court’
Team New Zealand have hit back at ‘‘a highly orchestrated attack on our integrity’’ they say has resulted in a kangaroo court in the public arena.
Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton again said there had been no misappropriation of public money.
This comes as the New Zealand government suspends funding on the event while it undertakes a major investigation into ‘‘structural and financial matters’’ surrounding Team New Zealand’s organisation of the America’s Cup.
This includes claims that America’s Cup Events Ltd (ACE), which is a separate body to Team New Zealand and runs the wider event, ‘‘used part of the event investment for costs that have arisen but which are not in relation to the management and delivery of the events’’ and ‘‘this includes the $3,000,000 loan to [Team NZ]’’.
Team New Zealand are cooperating and want the investigation carried out as quickly as possible to allow them to concentrate on their defence of the America’s Cup in Auckland early next year.
‘‘This week has seen a highly orchestrated attack on our integrity and credibility by people with questionable motives,’’ Dalton said in a statement yesterday.
‘‘We want to reassure all of our supporters, our sponsors and partners that there has been no misappropriation of public money.’’
Dalton described the process by the team’s detractors as ‘‘a textbook case of intentional reputational damage 101’’ as details on a $3m ‘‘loan’’ merged and revelations the syndicate were scammed out of around $1m targeted for TV production work from a European company.
‘‘It is a deliberate, sinister and highly orchestrated attack which includes anonymous tipoffs, recordings and document leaks. ‘Informants’ orchestrate unfair accusations, by passing normal processes and going straight to external authorities. The authorities quite correctly look into the claims.
‘‘Once that process begins the claims are leaked to media to create a kangaroo court trial, by specific media, before the target has had a chance to clear themselves through proper process. Even when the claims are proven inaccurate or wrong the reputational damage is done.’’
Earlier, long-time Cup aficionado and respected American yachting personality Tom Ehman said Dalton made a ‘‘huge mistake’’ in taking on both team and event responsibilities for the Cup. Dalton is involved with both Team New Zealand and ACE, a situation that Ehman sees as ‘‘the mistake, the problem’’.
‘‘I’ve been involved in the Cup since 1980, I’ve run it a few times . . . we always separated church and state. We always had an event authority CEO and we had people running the teams, CEOs of the teams whether it was Russell Coutts or Dennis Conner,’’ Ehman told TV3’s yesterday.