Dear Editor,
I regret the unresolved disagreement over my Business Page column of May 5, 2013. Your purported apology informing the public that certain statements in the column were misguided and erroneous raised serious questions about your evaluation of my integrity as your columnist.
When you kindly met me, at my request, on June 20, 2013 to discuss the issue, you agreed that I should write a public letter setting out the facts and that, subject to legal advice, you would publish it. Ten days after I submitted the letter, you informed me, only after I inquired, that you were still awaiting legal advice. I subsequently requested that my letter not be published as it was becoming increasingly apparent that your legal adviser would face some conflict in reversing his earlier advice that an apology was justified.
Let me affirm my complete disagreement and surprise with that advice.
As you are aware, the letter in question was published in another newspaper on June 30, 2013. Those who read it would have noted that it was structured so that every relevant assertion on the one side was juxtaposed with factual statements extracted from the public records of and concerning CCI’s shareholding on the other.
In an effort to protect my reputation as a business practitioner and attorney at law, I have no option but to cease writing Business Page for your news-paper, risking further uninformed rebuke. Depending on my assessment of its usefulness, I may seek another outlet to share my thoughts with the public.
I thank you for affording me the opportunity to engage your readers over a period spanning more than two decades.
Yours faithfully,
Christopher Ram
Editor’s note
After dispatching Mr Ram’s letter to our lawyers for an opinion on June 26, 2013, we received written advice from them dated July 2, 2013. Their view was that we should not publish Mr Ram’s letter for reasons which were set forth, and we accepted that advice.
We regret Mr Ram’s decision, but would like to express our gratitude to him for his many contributions to Business Page over the years.
