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April 12, 2010
Would-be Nets owner Prokhorov charged with Zimbabwe sanctions-busting
Just when you thought the relocation of the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn was all but a done deal, here comes another Shyamalanesque twist: New Jersey Congressmember Bill Pascrell Jr. has asked the Treasury Department to investigate would-be Nets owner (and arena investor) Mikhail Prokhorov's business dealing with the government of Zimbabwe, and whether they violate U.S. sanctions against that nation.
At issue appears to be an economic summit that Prokhorov's investment bank, Renaissance Capital, sponsored in February in cooperation with Zimbabwe's government, which is run by the increasingly violent and dictatorial Robert Mugabe. Executive order 13391, issued in 2003 by President George W. Bush, prohibits "anyone in the United States" as well as "U.S. branches and representative offices of foreign companies" from conducting transactions with anyone who has "undermin[ed] democratic institutions" in Zimbabwe.
Whether this directly applies to Prokhorov — who isn't a U.S. citizen or resident, and whose dealings with Zimbabwe came via his non-U.S. business interests, may not matter: Recall that the Nets arena's naming-rights deal with Barclays Bank almost blew up over the bank's ties to South African apartheid, among other things, and that the new Jets and Giants stadium is still without a naming-rights sponsor after its initial partner turned out to have
The immediate question is whether the NBA will put the Nets sale on hold — or should I say, further on hold — while the Treasury Department determines whether to investigate. Given that the NBA already dismissed Pascrell's charges once as not worthy of consideration, maybe not; on the other hand, the last thing NBA commissioner David Stern has to want is to have Capitol Hill reading about his league in the same sentence as African dictators. And as I've noted many times before, stranger things have killed development deals in this town.
next stop
ridge hill
Posted by karl the druid on April 12, 2010 12:41 PM
next stop
ridge hill
Posted by karl the druid on April 12, 2010 12:46 PM
The big difference here is that apartheid was eventually overturned. So whatever connections any business had with that regime, as disgusting as those were, would have been rendered moot because once a regime had been overthrown then the basis for instituting sanctions on that particular regime under domestic law goes with it, notwithstanding any moral outrage that would potentially scuttle any business deal, which as stated in the article almost did.
However, the Mugabe crew is still there. Now before anyone says "Halliburton," the point of the matter is that our government should do all it can to enforce the law concerning sanctions on rogue regimes, no matter who or what particular regime. That they have not done due diligence on any particular group or organization does not invalidate the law but is the results of pure politics. I just hope that our current Congresscritters do not fall into that trap of "because X did it and nobody did anything to stop it then we should not be so concerned about Y." I hope that they apply the high standards required by law and if the Prokorov group has run afoul of the law then the sale should be stopped immediately.
But I'm afraid that petty politics would overrule it. Watch the Congressional Black Caucus for any signs on what the outcome might be.
Posted by Transic on April 12, 2010 08:22 PM
I love how this old geezer of politican wants the nets to be in jersey so bad. The nets will be headed to brooklyn .
Posted by dan on April 12, 2010 08:52 PM