Lewis Up To Old Tricks
Thursday, 21st Nov 2002 00:00

Lewis Up To Old Tricks Again?

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JACKSON SHOW CASH SAGA 12:00 - 20 November 2002

Council officials are demanding to know what happened to cash raised from Exeter City FC's charity show featuring megastar Michael Jackson. The event was in June but the city council is still trying to find out where the ticket proceeds went. The day was billed as a fund-raising extravaganza in aid of two charities, Children With Aids and Support for Africa - and to raise funds for the club. Because it was a charity event the council gave the club a discount on the cost of its entertainment licence. And the authority says it needs proof of where the proceeds went. The picture appeared unclear when the Echo made inquiries yesterday. Both charities initially told us that they had not been given any money. Club co-chairman Uri Geller said that money hadn't been paid and he was in discussion with the club's management about it. Both his co-chairman, John Russell, and the club's co-vice chairman, Mike Lewis, insisted that two payments of £6,000 each had been made to two charities weeks ago - although they declined to identify them. Late yesterday afternoon Support for Africa said it had been contacted by the club during the course of the day to say it would be presented with a £3,000 cheque at a ceremony later this month. And this morning Mr Lewis said the money was sent at the end of last week to the two charities involved. Thousands of fans paid £10 a ticket for the show at St James's Park, which also featured TV magician David Blaine and other celebrities. Some fans even paid £100 to share a train with Michael Jackson, a friend of Mr Geller, from London to the city. The show was billed as a charity fundraiser so the council waived its usual £4,000 public entertainment licence fee for an event of that scale, in favour of a payment of only £30. A council spokesman said since the event the authority had written two letters to the club asking where the cash had gone - but had not yet received any response. He said the discount was subject to the organiser confirming where the money went. "We contacted the club afterwards to get these details," he said. "We have written twice to the person who applied for the licence at the club and received nothing back. "So we have now written to the charities involved and are waiting for replies. "It's a case of us keeping on at it until we find out what the situation is." Mr Lewis denied that the club had received any letters from the council. He said yesterday that many charities had been involved on the day and they had left it to Mr Geller to decide which two got the cash. He said cheques had been written and sent weeks ago. But Mr Geller told the Echo yesterday: "The money has not been paid. I've been constantly pushing the management, especially the financial department of the club, to make up two cheques. "We promised the money to two charities, Children With Aids in the UK and Support For Africa. "I don't know why there's been a delay." Lesley Naylor, of the Children With Aids charity, said it had so far received nothing. "I believe we are still due to benefit and will ask the organisers," she added. Patti Boulaye, the singer, West End star and TV actress who runs the Support for Africa charity, said initially: "We haven't received anything. We are waiting to hear from them. It would be nice to get the money." Her spokeswoman then later told the Echo: "I can confirm to you that £3,000 was raised for our charity - Support For Africa - at the event hosted by Exeter FC in June with Michael Jackson. "The cheque will be presented to our charity on November 26 at Exeter FC." She said: "We have just been contacted today by the club, to go to a presentation to collect the money." Mr Russell said yesterday he didn't know which charities had been given cash. "The money has been paid. We have got our annual meeting on December 18, and we will be accountable," he said. "I don't know which charities were paid. It was organised by the committee involved on that particular day. "We did pay out for staging, sound, travel from London, stewards and other various sources. "The charities got £6,000 each because of the costs of the day. The big screen alone cost £9,000." He added: "Two charities have been paid." And Mr Lewis said yesterday that the event raised £11,476. The club added £524 of its own money to round the amount up to £12,000, which was split between one national and one international charity - but he would not say which ones. He admitted that the club had been slow in dealing with the matter - but said it had been involved in a dispute with one of its major suppliers for the event and its accountant had been off for a month. But this morning he said that two cheques had been sent on Friday. One had gone to the Support For Africa charity and the other to Children With Aids. Children With Aids is receiving £9,000 and Support For Africa is receiving £3,000. He said money from the Football Association for charities will be used to top up the cash. Children With Aids and Support for Africa will each receive another £3,000 in the next two weeks. The remaining cash from the Football Association will be given to a scheme at the old Centrespot building for homeless people. Mr Lewis said: "Our accountant has been handling all this. "We have some litigation with one of the main suppliers and we had been told not to issue any cheques until we settled the matter. "In mid September, our accountant drew up the cheques but he has been away for eight weeks. We have been so busy with the football club. The cheques were sent at the end of the week but it took all of yesterday to look at it." He said the cheques would be formally presented at the FA Cup replay home game against Forest Green, at half-time on Tuesday night next week. He said 5,834 people had attended the Michael Jackson event - but they had hoped for almost double that. "It was not a full house," he said. "But we were determined to honour the promise we had made to the charities." He said the whole event cost £50,000 to stage so they had not made as much money for the charities as they had hoped on the night, but both stood to benefit again from the FA's charity cash. He denied that they had received any letters from the city council and yesterday said he had no idea why Mr Geller had told the Echo that the money had not been paid.

Nothing changes eh Mike?

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