WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand team boss Grant Dalton said Friday that there was a “deliberate” and “sinister” attempt to damage his reputation before his defense of the Copa América and that they were working with the government to address problems.
© Reuters / Alessandro Bianchi
FILE PHOTO: Grant Dalton, Managing Director of Emirates Team New Zealand, smiles during the America’s Cup World Series regatta in Naples
The team said earlier this week that “informants” had spread “highly defamatory and inaccurate” allegations about some of the practices of America’s Cup Events (ACE), a subsidiary of the team formed to organize and manage the event.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the government department in charge of the event, on Thursday suspended any additional funding to ACE pending the outcome of an investigation.
“There has been no misappropriation of public money, and we are working with MBIE to clear all allegations,” Dalton said in a statement on Friday.
Removing all layers of what is happening here, it is a textbook case of ‘intentional intentional harm 101’. It is a deliberate, sinister, and highly orchestrated attack.
“All of this at a time when every hour counts as we try to focus on hosting a great event and defending the Copa América.”
On Wednesday, the team said they had asked police to investigate an alleged email scam after transferring money to a fraudulent Hungarian bank account.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters in Auckland on Friday that it was important that the investigation be completed without any prior judgment being made.
“We have complaints that have been made and are being investigated, as is to be expected,” he said.
“Once we have those answers, we can see what happened.”
The 36th America’s Cup will begin in January with a regatta between four challengers from Italy, Great Britain and the United States. The winner then faces the New Zealand Team for the Copa América next March.
(Report by Greg Stutchbury; Edition by Peter Rutherford)
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