da bbc.co.uk
del 4 dicembre 2000
Leaked letter 'enraged' Sir Elton
Sir
Elton John's former lover and manager has described how their
relationship ended after a letter from the singer's
accountants about
his spending was leaked to a national newspaper.
John Reid, 51, told the High Court in
London how the singer had been furious after the private letter
appeared in The Mirror in 1998.
"He was incandescent with rage and he
believed that someone from John Reid Enterprises
had sold that
information to the newspapers
and told me in no
uncertain terms to find out how it happened," Mr Reid told the court.
Sir
Elton, 53, is suing Andrew Haydon, the former managing director of John
Reid Enterprises (JREL), and City
accountancy firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
He alleges Mr Haydon was negligent in
letting JREL charge him overseas tour expenses
including booking
agents, accountants and producers.
Sir Elton believes several million pounds of touring expenses should have been paid by JREL
under a management agreement.
Both defendants contest the allegations against them.
'Terrible tension'
Mr Reid was called as a witness by PricewaterhouseCoopers on the 20th day of the trial.
The court heard that Sir Elton and John Reid, the singer's manager for 26 years, had had a five-year relationship in the 70s.
But Mr Reid told the court that the publication of the letter in 1998 "kicked the year off quite badly"
in
terms of his relationship with Sir Elton.
Mr Reid said he had spoken to Mr
Haydon following his phone call with Sir Elton, and had told him
to
hire a firm of private investigators to see how the letter had been
leaked.
"I was very angry about it too and
for a couple of weeks there was a terrible tension between myself and
Elton and within the office structure because everyone was under
suspicion of having somehow leaked this letter to the press," he told
the court.
"It wasn't until afterwards that we
discovered it had been Benjamin Pell, who claims
to have gotten the
letter from the rubbish bins," he said.
Mr Reid told the court that he had
subsequently heard from someone that Sir Elton had been asking people
"if they thought I was dishonest".
"So I went to his suite and I asked
him if he had been asking people if they thought I was dishonest and he
said no, he didn't think I was dishonest, but he was concerned about
where all his money was going and he had appointed KPMG to do an
audit,
" Mr Reid told the court.
"I told him I was pleased he was doing
that and if there was any discrepancy in our conduct I was responsible,
because I was responsible for the company."
Mr Reid told the court that he had offered to make sure that everything that should be done was being done.
"That was the last time I spoke to him and the last
time I saw him was on 18 March, 1998," he said.
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