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Arrest warrant posted for Spanish Wine Academy director [updated]
September 4, 2009
Jim Budd, and Adam Lechmere
Pancho Campo MW, director of the prestigious Wine Future Rioja conference, is the subject of an arrest warrant on the Interpol website.
Wine Future takes place in Rioja in November, with international wine critics and writers including Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson MW, Oz Clarke, Steven Spurrier and other celebrities of the wine world due to speak.
The warrant, issued in Dubai, relates to an alleged fraud in that country. Campo, 47, and his lawyers, are emphatic that the matter concerns a business deal and is a purely civil matter.
decanter.com understands the charges relate to a court case in Dubai that began in 2002, in which Campo is accused of fraud involving around €600,000.
It is understood he was due to appear in a court in the United Arab Emirates in 2005. When he did not attend the UAE issued a warrant for his arrest.
Between 1999 and 2002 Campo ran a company called Connections Sports and Music (CSM) in Dubai which organised sports and rock music events with stars such as Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg, Eric Cantona, Pink Floyd, Sting, Enrique Iglesias and Tom Jones.
Campo told decanter.com the complaint, brought by his former business partner Jackie Wartanian, who is now managing director of Center Stage Management (also CSM), is to do with a fee paid to singer Enrique Iglesias.
Campo told decanter.com that he only became aware of the arrest warrant in the last four to six weeks.
'When I left Dubai to return to Spain in 2002, I informed the Spanish Embassy in Dubai,' he said.
'I was never told about the court case. This is a civil matter and should never have become a criminal one. The €600,000 was used to pay Enrique Iglesias.'
Campo and his wife Melissa now run the Barcelona-based Wine Academy, and conferences whose sponsors include the Rioja government, Marqués de Riscal, Riedel, Codorniu, Robert Mondavi Winery and Constellation Europe.
The conferences are regarded as influential. The Wine and Climate Change conference in February 2008 attracted former US Vice-President Al Gore, who spoke by video link.
Alfonso Martinez, Campo's lawyer, cast doubt on the veracity of the arrest warrant. 'This can be done by petitioning a judge in Dubai using a lawyer,' he told decanter.com.
Rafael Ansón, president of the Real Academia Española de Gastronomía, told decanter.com the case was 'exclusively commercial' and that they are working towards a solution.
He described the posting of the warrant on the Interpol site as 'a false interpretation' of the situation.
He added, 'the business activities of Pancho Campo in Spain are positive and irreproachable.'
decanter.com has been unable to contact Jackie Wartanian.
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To post your comment on this story, email us at news@decanter.com
Your article posted September 4th on Pancho Campo is CHEAP and
CHEEZY. I am very disappointed in Decanter's lack of integrity in
perpetuating untruths, simply to obtain a wider readership. Realizing
that a wider readership is your goal, and certainly, your
responsibility in accomplishing your projected bottom line, I see
where the urge would come from to do it, but DOES INTEGRITY NOT PLAY
A PART IN MAINTAINING EVEN YOUR IMAGE?
You are creating a very negative picture by printing only some of the
facts, and I am positive that within a few weeks the arguing points
that you plea in your case to dirty Pancho's image will shine in a
different light. We all know, perception is everything.
This story, presented the way that you have, (and knowing the facts),
has quite a malicious tone to it, and paints a totally FALSE picture
of Pancho Campo's business ethic.
Few in the Wine World have stuck their neck out like Pancho has, or
have had such a rapid rise to Global recognition, and I am beginning
to feel their are allot of very JEALOUS people out there who feel it
is their right to take him down, using whatever unsavoury tactics
that they can lay their hands on.
Shame on them, and shame on you Decanter, for portraying Pancho's
story in this light. I say, power to him (Pancho, I mean) as he has
worked extremely hard to get where he is.
Wendy Vallaster
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