British banking exec fired for Shiite joke
Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:38 pm
[ Wednesday, 09 January 2008 ]
Ex says Barclaycard boss is not a racist
British banking exec fired for Shiite joke
The ex-wife of a British banking executive who was fired for making an anti-Shiite joke came out in defense of the shamed Barclaycard boss, saying he is not racist, press reports said.
Marc Howells, 42, who earned £200,000 (395,000 dollars) a year as director of Barclaycard Europe, was addressing senior executives about the credit card company's quarterly figures last month.
"The results were like Muslims - some were good, some were Shi'ite," he said.
Howells was fired from the company under a deal known as a 'redundancy under compromise', which is believed to have involved a substantial payoff, the Wales on Sunday reported.
But now his estranged wife Sandra, who separated from him 18 months ago and lives in South Wales with the couple's three children, has come out fighting for her ex and insists he is not racist, the paper said.
"Marc hasn't got a racist bone in his body. He just said the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place," Mrs. Howells, 44, said.
The anti-Shiite comments have made headlines around the world due to Barclaycard's international reputation.
According to one company insider quoted by the paper: "Howells jumped before he was pushed. Part of the deal was that the circumstances of his departure must never be discussed. But there was no chance of that once his Shi'ite joke started doing the rounds."
A Barclaycard spokesman said: "We don't comment on individual cases and it is as simple as that, but everybody at Barclaycard gets diversity training, and that forms part of our employment contracts.
"We do not have a policy of discriminating against anyone who works for us or who wants to be a client, and Muslims are very much welcome to use our financial services."
Howells was unavailable for comment to the paper. He now lives in north London in a rented £800,000 house with a girlfriend from Eastern Europe who also works at Barclaycard, it reported.
Source,: DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/01/09/43995.html
(Alarabiya satelite news channel has an English news website for those who are interrested, Here the link,: http://www.alarabiya.net/english/ )
Ex says Barclaycard boss is not a racist
British banking exec fired for Shiite joke
The ex-wife of a British banking executive who was fired for making an anti-Shiite joke came out in defense of the shamed Barclaycard boss, saying he is not racist, press reports said.
Marc Howells, 42, who earned £200,000 (395,000 dollars) a year as director of Barclaycard Europe, was addressing senior executives about the credit card company's quarterly figures last month.
"The results were like Muslims - some were good, some were Shi'ite," he said.
Howells was fired from the company under a deal known as a 'redundancy under compromise', which is believed to have involved a substantial payoff, the Wales on Sunday reported.
But now his estranged wife Sandra, who separated from him 18 months ago and lives in South Wales with the couple's three children, has come out fighting for her ex and insists he is not racist, the paper said.
"Marc hasn't got a racist bone in his body. He just said the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place," Mrs. Howells, 44, said.
The anti-Shiite comments have made headlines around the world due to Barclaycard's international reputation.
According to one company insider quoted by the paper: "Howells jumped before he was pushed. Part of the deal was that the circumstances of his departure must never be discussed. But there was no chance of that once his Shi'ite joke started doing the rounds."
A Barclaycard spokesman said: "We don't comment on individual cases and it is as simple as that, but everybody at Barclaycard gets diversity training, and that forms part of our employment contracts.
"We do not have a policy of discriminating against anyone who works for us or who wants to be a client, and Muslims are very much welcome to use our financial services."
Howells was unavailable for comment to the paper. He now lives in north London in a rented £800,000 house with a girlfriend from Eastern Europe who also works at Barclaycard, it reported.
Source,: DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/01/09/43995.html
(Alarabiya satelite news channel has an English news website for those who are interrested, Here the link,: http://www.alarabiya.net/english/ )