A website dedicated to questioning the motives and credentials of Moneyweb journalist Julius Cobbett has been uploaded by investment group Elan Suisse Capital. The site, at www.juliuscobbett.com, appears in the form of a letter in which the directors of the investment group focus on the journalist’s age, qualifications and experience.
Amongst other challenges, the site directs the following at Cobbett: ‘[W]e have prepared a list of questions for you, based specifically on your previous article about us and your expertise. Our questions are designed to elucidate what, if any, investigation you did, or if you simply publish what appeals to you.”
The ‘previous article” refers to a story written by Cobbett that appeared on the Moneyweb site on May 11. Under the header ‘Assassin or prey”, the piece details the plight of US national Bob Christ, who is involved in a legal battle with Elan Suisse over the whereabouts of an alleged US$250,000 investment he had made with the group in 2004.
Cobbett writes in the article: ‘Incidentally, it seems that Christ’s attack on Elan Suisse is not the first time the name has been tarnished. A previous scheme, run in Zimbabwe under the guise ‘Elan Suisse Financial Advisory Services (ESFAS)’, lost its investors millions of Zimbabwean dollars.”
According to Moneyweb investigations editor Barry Sergeant, the website put up by Elan Suisse – which gave Cobbett until 8am this morning to publicly respond to the list of questions – is a ‘highly focused smear campaign that attacks an individual journalist and ignores the Moneyweb environment.” Sergeant states that Cobbett works within the investigations unit at Moneyweb, where ‘all work must go through the normal process of supervision, editing and checking”.
Says Sergeant: ‘One of the rules in investigative journalism is you play the ball, not the man. We are not playing [Elan Suisse directors] Brett Cormick and John Walters, we are playing Elan Suisse. We want to know where the money is. This elaborate smear campaign does not intimidate us in the least, we take it as a bizarre and underhanded compliment.”
Elan Suisse directors Cormick and Walters have not as yet responded to eMedia’s requests for comment.
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