The warrant, issued in Dubai relates to an alleged fraud of €600,000 in that country for which a court case was initiated against him in 2002 by his then business partner. He was due to appear in the court in 2005 but did not attend the court as he had left the country in Dubai in 2003.
Campo ran a company called Connections Sports and Music in Dubai from 1999 to 2002 in partnership with one Jackie Wartanian who is now the MD of the company.
Was it proper for Decanter to give a ‘Headline News’ sort of a report on the net, or did Decanter really canter lest someone else break the news before them, to stay ahead of media reporting without caring about the possible damage of reputation to Pancho is my question? I think they did.
I have known Pancho Campo for a few years primarily because Indian Wine Academy has similar objectives to The Wine Academy of Spain which he founded with his wife Melissa (I think he told me she is American). I have met him a few times in various forums in Spain and have also attended one of his seminars on Climate Control he conducted in Valencia during the first edition of Vino-elite Wine Show in which a big group of Masters of Wines visiting from UK were present too. He admitted then that one of his objectives was to use this platform for getting his MW title. This he did last year and became the first Spaniard to achieve the coveted title.
He also conducted the highly publicized Wine and Climate Change Conference last February, in which the former Vice President of US, Al Gore had promised to appear but got busy after getting the Noble Prize in the meantime and however, did make a speech through the video link.
When I talked to my friend Robert Joseph whom I met in Germany last week where both of us were judging at MundusVini, he told me he knew about it before the report came out in Decanter. Apparently, Campo had taken the precaution of informing him and all the other celebrity speakers at the forthcoming ‘Wine Future’ conference which takes place in Rioja in November, with international wine critics and writers including Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson MW, Oz Clarke and Robert Joseph have agreed to speak.
When I asked Robert whether Decanter should have published the news report, he was clearly in the affirmative. ‘This is news and seems to have been reported accurately by them. They ought to report about it. After all, there is a very important conference ahead for which maybe 400 people have registered. What if one goes there and does not find him or the conference? After all, if you find a winery in Nashik mixing chemicals in the wine would you not report in delWine? It would be wrong if you did not.’
To me this is clearly a western viewpoint. Firstly, the alleged case has nothing to do with wine, Spanish Wine Academy or the Rioja Future. The alleged fraud was committed in 2002 for a non wine-related activity and Campo claims he left the country in 2003 after informing the Dubai Police about his return and sorting out the accounts. The non-appearance in court was in 2005. It took 4 years by his ex-partner who is a resident in Dubai and by any account could be considered influential, even if it is because of his continued presence!
Then there is the question of personal reputation of an individual. It is not only in Bollywood that the issue is raised of a person wrongfully arrested and tried for murder but released as innocent man after the trial but the stigma remaining in public memory for a long period. Would it not affect his reputation in the long run-even if he were found to be liable and actually was liable and ends up paying the amount or the damages?
Campo has been reportedly able to get the contract to organise the next edition of Vinoble- the sweet wines and sherry show held in Jerez every two years. Would there be any negative waves created for the first Spanish man to have achieved the wine ‘ gold medal’ –the MW?
Robert had no satisfactory answer to that question. Fortunately, Campo seems to have enough countrymen speak in his favour and there is a general support from various sections according to the article. Unfortunately the protagonist, Mr. Wartanian could not be contacted by Decanter. Was it a case of his not wanting to be contacted?
Although I am convinced that his intentions were to put Campo on the mat – possibly to recover the money, Decanter ought to have used restraint and the least they should do now is to carry the story to its logical conclusion by digging a bit further into the facts.
After all, looking beyond the conference and the business animosities, an important wine personality’s reputation might be possibly tarnished, thanks to Decanter who chose to canter without gathering all the relevant facts.
Subhash Arora
For our earlier article about the Rioja Futures, click |