Leila Benali’s curious response to ‘that’ Twiggy kiss
Moroccan Energy Minister Leila Benali issued a denial (of sorts) on Wednesday that it was she who’d been caught mid-embrace with Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest in Paris, about a fortnight ago.
For those catching up, this all centres on a photograph of Forrest published in the Daily Mail last weekend. They didn’t name the person Forrest was kissing, but we suggested on Monday that Benali could be the mystery woman.
Nothing wrong with any of this, of course. Forrest is separated from his wife. Benali is single. They’ve apparently been seeing each other for a while and there are no allegations of corruption or integrity amiss; just a boy, standing in front of a girl, asking her to … (you know how it goes). And yes, it might feel tacky getting caught pashing someone famous in public, but Benali’s reaction has been, well, curious.
Her response wasn’t a full-throated dismissal of the charge. She didn’t reject any romantic link to Forrest, or any link to seeing him outside of a sterile business affiliation. We might have expected her to argue that she couldn’t have been in the throes of passion that afternoon because she was lunching at the time, elsewhere, dining with a visiting ambassador from a tiny island nation being pommeled by rising seawater levels.
Nothing of the sort.
Instead, Benali’s statement spoke in the foggy language of ambiguity. “She prioritises the current critical issues related to energy transition, sustainable development, and the nation’s wellbeing over such baseless claims,” it said. “The ministry confirms that it follows the principles of transparency, integrity and respect for ethical standards in its decisions and public records.” All this over a kiss?
There was a bit that spoke of “moral values”, “public opinion”, and a rejection of “any practices that affect … (the) ethics of the people”.
It also went on to say that the photograph was “completely unrelated” to the role of Benali’s ministry (whatever that means) and that the image “is entirely unrelated to Ms Leila Benali, the Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development”. You know what? Fair enough, maybe there was another woman of dark hair and similar height, in distinctive luxury loafers, having a steaming afternoon in the Jewish Quarter that day.
But this is also a denial that was issued a full day after reporters doorstopped the minister and pressed her for a response to the photograph. “No, no I will not speak,” she said in reply, before hastily making an exit. Not what most people would say. Isn’t it just simpler to shrug and quote Shaggy? It wasn’t me.
Consider, as well, Benali’s response through the prism of Forrest’s silence of recent days. He’s refused to engage, even now while facing a furore in her country (he’s in Morocco for talks over a renewable energy concern).
His officials, meanwhile, have been busy cavilling with Margin Call – daily – not over the substance of the item, but the semantics. They disliked terms like “necking”, “sucking face” and raised further grievances too minor to mention. So many phone calls, so much energy spent on stray words, but no one’s been tripping up over the naming of Benali as the woman in the picture. Even now, after Benali’s ersatz-denial, a spokeswoman for Forrest still tells us he won’t be commenting on the matter.
Flying under radar
Rich-lister Wes Maas received a juicy write-up in the Fin Review on Wednesday with an overview of his origin story, plus a few words on his humility as one of the nation’s most wealthy. “No waterfront homes, jets or superyachts in his name,” was the description of this 44-year-old fella running his listed construction business, Maas Group, from Dubbo.
Humble, perhaps, but not that humble. Maas owns a bunch of aircraft: an Embraer EMB-500, a Robinson R66 and a Pilatus PC-12. He held them for a charter business but times are tough and the planes and helicopter aren’t all that much use any more. “It’s very tough to say the least,” he told Margin Call. Sadly, he’s had to let go of the PC-12 plane. The Robinson R66, too. That’s a chopper, baby.
Ryan ducks out
Spotted: teal MP Monique Ryan ducking out from the floor of parliament just after the speaker called for a locking of the doors. This for a Greens-led motion calling for recognition of Palestinian statehood, which scored five votes to the 80 noes. Ryan clearly squibbed the vote (although she definitely wasn’t the only one – Ed Husic didn’t vote either, and neither did Parramatta’s Andrew Charlton or Ryan’s teal colleague Kylea Tink). And lo, later that afternoon Ryan was at it on Instagram posting an impassioned attack at Israel over its military miscalculation in Rafah, calling the result “beyond horrific” (but also inserting a par calling for the release of Jewish hostages).
Chef beefs up app
Shannon Bennett, main squeeze of Erica Baxter and former head chef at Vue de Monde, has just poured more than $3m into the food platform he founded, Culinary Wonderland, raising his stake in the app to more than 75 per cent. He’s taken the title of director alongside investor and family office adviser Dale Sanftl, who runs 1010 capital. Remaining shareholders include ex-Virgin Blue co-founder and boss Brett Godfrey, retired AFL star Nick Riewoldt, ex-Test cricketers Ricky Ponting and Tim Paine, TV chef and restaurateur Miguel Maestre and millionaire investors including Radek Sali and Josh Liberman.
Former Woolies boss and chair of the AFL’s new team in Tassie Grant O’Brien is also a financial backer, as are property developers Michael Gannon and Bruce Neill and lawyer Nicolas Zervos.
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