UN special envoy Alexander Downer has stirred up not one but two controversies within the last 48 hours, though in both cases evidence regarding his purported guilt has been flimsy.
In the first case, the Australian diplomat is said to have committed a blunder by describing EDEK and DIKO as “rejectionist” [i.e. anti-solution] parties. Downer is supposed to have made the comments during a meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister.
Excerpts from the “minutes” of that meeting were broadcast by the Antenna news network, although the report remains to be confirmed.
That did not prevent the affected parties from blasting Downer, who increasingly over the past few months has become something of a punching bag for certain political quarters on the island.
“This raises a major issue of credibility for Mr. Downer – if indeed he made those comments. It is a raw and unprovoked intervention in the country’s political life,” EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou said.
The European Party, though not mentioned by Downer in the contentious comments, went much farther. Party spokesman Rikos Erotokritou called on President Christofias to “cast him out, by writing a letter to the UN Secretary-General telling him that he no longer has confidence in Mr. Downer.”
Main opposition party DISY said such reports were disturbing, but at the same time stressed the importance of corroborating the reports before going for the jugular.
DISY boss Nikos Anastasiades noted it would be wiser to establish the facts first and then act on them: “One cannot light-heartedly create enemies all the time,” he said.
Meanwhile another episode in the Downer-bashing saga has been unfolding. Simerini newspaper reported on business activities of the Australian diplomat which were said to conflict with his role as UN envoy to Cyprus.
Downer is a partner in Bespoke Approach, an Australian-based business consultancy that commenced operations in August 2008.
Bespoke Approach happens to be one of the media consultants of KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co), a New York City-based private equity firm that sponsors and manages investment funds, focusing primarily on leveraged buyouts of mature businesses.
KKR has a number of media contacts around the globe, with Bespoke Approach being its contact in Australia.
But according to Simerini, in 2007 KKR was involved in the buyout of UN Ro-Ro Group, the largest shipping company in Turkey, in a transaction worth some 900 million euros. Following the takeover, the shipping company continued to be based in Turkey. At the time, Forbes magazine reported the transaction as being the largest in Turkish history.
Given the above, Simerini said it was obvious that Downer’s involvement with Bespoke Approach represented a conflict of interest, since his private concerns evidently clashed with his diplomatic activities in the region.
The paper drew on comments made by Downer to the Inner City Press that he “he does not work with Cyprus, Turkey or Greece, and by this appeared to mean he does not negotiate contracts in the three, not that Bespoke Approach does not have business relations with enterprises active there.”
The fact that Bespoke Approach did consultancy work for KKR – which was involved in a business transaction in Turkey two years ago – left Downer exposed, the paper deduced.
Simerini did not mention whether Bespoke Approach itself was involved in the aforementioned transaction – which seems unlikely since KKR has consultants in several countries, including one in Turkey. What’s more, the paper also failed to take into account that possibility that, even if Bespoke Approach were involved in the “guilty” transaction, this did not automatically point to Downer, since another partner may just as easily handled the brief.
Downer critics in Cyprus quickly used the reports – speculative at best – as more ammunition with which to attack the UN envoy.
DIKO vice-chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos called on Downer to provide “a convincing answer that his business activities do not adversely affect to a significant degree his impartiality.”
