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Monday, 4 December, 2000, 14:49 GMT
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.
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.
"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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