DB blackmailed over ad agent

By Nick Smith

Friday 14th December 2001

Terry King

Blackmailers have tried to force brewer DB to dump its advertising agency, Navigator/gh, over the historical actions of its chairman, Terry King.

The blackmailers gave the brewer two months to fire Mr King's agency or they would give defamatory allegations about the chairman to the DB board, shareholders, international partners, wholesalers and competitors.

They also threatened to involve the media unless the demands were met, a threat the blackmailers delivered on by mailing a list of allegations to The National Business Review.

DB is standing strong behind Navigator and its chairman, while Mr King is understood to be considering legal action or lodging a complaint with police.

In an anonymous letter, people claiming to be friends of Mr King's first wife wrote: "If you do not remove Terry King and the company he works for from the Heineken and brewery business, we will publicise the associated facts to the wider DB board and shareholders, your international partners, key wholesalers and your competitors."

The alleged facts relate to Mr King's behaviour while in the full throes of alcoholism.

Mr King, who has not drunk alcohol since 1996, has made no secret of his battle with the bottle or that he hurt friends, family and colleagues through his drinking. Mr King is now a trustee of the Hanmer Foundation.

The authors of the blackmail letter, who are unknown to Mr King, his first wife, Toni, and DB marketing manager Rene van der Graaf, also threaten to use the media, saying "we look forward to reading NBR in the near future."

"We are sure two months will be sufficient for you to review your arrangements and appoint a more suitable person to do your advertisements ... I apologise if this sounds like blackmail, it's not."

Mr van der Graaf was unavailable for comment but newly appointed corporate affairs general manager Lisa Fleury said, "We are not only appalled but also in disbelief [at the blackmail attempt] on the basis of an individual's historical problems.

"To be honest, we hold whomever is responsible in contempt. I just think it's disgusting."

Mr King did not want to comment on the blackmail letter.

There are clues to the identity of the blackmailers in the letter: "We are the wives of many and some of our husbands hold powerful positions. One of them suggested we cc this note to Brian [Blake, DB chief executive], as they used to play rugby together when Brian was a reasonable player. We hope he's reasonable about this."

Comments from our readers

No comments yet