I’m no spy says Kiwi named as top US contact
Former Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive, diplomat and Government adviser Charles Finny has been named by WikiLeaks as the United States’ top Kiwi contact.
But Mr Finny denied being a spy and said the “key contact” mentions were flattering. He is quoted often in the US diplomatic cables controversially made public by website WikiLeaks, and in a cable from May 19, 2006, was singled out as a “close [US] embassy contact”.
“I am regularly talking to embassies, high commissions and journalists in New Zealand and around the world, in areas where I have expertise,” Mr Finny said.
“I don’t want to be big-headed about it but I do know quite a lot about what goes on in some parts of the world and also about international organisations and how they operate. I am regularly consulted all over the world.”
Mr Finny is employed by public relations company Saunders Unsworth and works with domestic and international clients on tertiary education policy, international trade, aviation policy, infrastructure policy and government procurement.
He has spent much of his life studying and working overseas, living in the US, Britain, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Taiwan.
Before joining Saunders Unsworth in July, he spent five years as Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive. He previously had 22 years’ experience in international trade, economics and diplomacy, serving in the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, the Trade and Industry Department and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
He is also a member of the Victoria University Council and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Greater Wellington regional council in this year’s elections.
Mr Finny said he often saw important embassy contacts at functions in Wellington.
“You see them at cocktail parties, you have lunches occasionally and sometimes they formally call on you … once every four or five months. But you would probably see them once a week at cocktail parties.
“I would say I speak most often to the Australians and the Americans and I also do work for the New Zealand Government from time to time.”
The US embassy was less keen to discuss Mr Finny. “We do not comment on materials, including classified documents, which may have been leaked,” spokeswoman Janine Burns said.
“Any unauthorised disclosure of classified information by WikiLeaks has harmful implications for the lives of identified individuals that are jeopardised in other countries, but also for global engagement among and between nations.
“While we cannot speak to the authenticity of any documents provided to the press, we can speak to the diplomatic community’s practice of cable writing. Cables reflect the internal day-to-day analysis and candid assessments that feed the governments’ foreign relations deliberations.
“These cables are often preliminary and incomplete expressions of foreign policy, and they should not be seen as having standing on their own or as representing US policy.”
Mr Finny’s main area of expertise is international trade negotiations in Asia. “We just talk about what’s going on and what’s happening in various places around the world,” he said.
He “absolutely” was not a spy. “I talk to lots of people across the business community, the diplomatic community, international organisations and media.”
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By on 13/12/2010