Pancho Campo robbed at gunpoint in Cape Town

Former Master of Wine, Pancho Campo, was kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint in Cape Town last weekend during a visit to discuss the upcoming W12 Congress, it has been revealed.

Pancho Campo was robbed at gunpoint in Cape Town earlier this month

The Chilean-born, Spain-raised businessman was in the South African city to discuss the W12 Congress that will take place in Cape Town next January.

Prior to his visit, Campo had just been appointed international director of the summit, which will feature Arnold Schwarzenegger as the keynote speaker.

According to a statement released by Campo, on Saturday 12 October he was kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint in a vehicle by two individuals posing as Uber drivers.

After being robbed at gunpoint Campo was “assaulted and abandoned outside Cape Town” at around 5am.

After walking for an hour, Campo managed to flag down a police car, which escorted him to a nearby police station. He was later accompanied back to his hotel in the centre of Cape Town.

“The hardest part, apart from being attacked at gunpoint and finding myself in the middle of nowhere with no money or phone in the middle of the night, was to learn later that while they were kidnapping me, my wife had called my cell phone and heard how they had threatened me and I had begged for my life,” Campo said.

Born in Chile in 1961, Campo began his career as a successful tennis coach, training the likes of Andre Agassi.

In 2003 he founded The Wine Academy of Spain, becoming Spain’s first Master of Wine five years later in 2008.

In 2012 Campo was forced to give up the title following an investigation into allegations that he had breached the Institute of Masters of Wine code of conduct.

Last March Campo’s name was cleared from Interpol’s database after a 14-year battle to prove his innocence after he was issued with a Red Notice by the agency. Campo had been put on the Interpol database by the United Arab Emirates following a complaint filed in Dubai by a former business partner in 1999.

“The origin of the dispute with a former partner was a private matter of a commercial nature, which should never have been treated as a criminal case nor should it have caused the issuance of the Red Notice,” Campo said last year when his name was cleared.