Following months of accusations of financial improprieties surrounding Harvard’s investment in an oil firm tied to George W. Bush, the president of Harvard’s investment firm denies that the University did anything wrong.

During his first in-depth interview with The Crimson on the subject, Jack Meyer, president of Harvard Management Company (HMC)—the arm of the University responsible for investing the endowment—called recent allegations by a watchdog group “absurd.”

Harvard’s connection to Harken first drew major attention last spring, when HarvardWatch—a student-alumni watchdog group—suggested the University’s ties to the poorly performing energy corporation were prompted by Bush’s relation to the company.

Bush served as a director of Harken from 1986—the year Harvard began investing in the company—until 1993.

Speculation has since ensued that in June 1990 Harvard, seeking to satisfy political interests, purchased from Bush 212,140 Harken shares—holdings valued at $848,560 and comprising about two-thirds of Bush’s investment in the company.

The scrutiny continued early last month, when HarvardWatch released a report detailing a partnership formed in December 1990 between HMC’s then-venture capital division, Aeneas Venture Corporation, and Harken called the Harken Anadarko Partnership (HAP).

The report, comparing the partnership to those employed by Enron, charged that the partnership “was controlled by and transparent only to Harken insiders, and likely was used to artificially brighten the company’s business projects.”

But Meyer told The Crimson that all allegations regarding the Harvard-Harken relationship “are either absolutely false or pointless”—a statement backed up in interviews with other people involved in HMC’s investment in Harken.

Initial Attraction

The story of Harvard and Harken dates back to 1986, when the HMC Board of Directors—in charge of setting HMC policy but not specific investment decisions—viewed the energy business as a wise investment opportunity.

Led by HMC director and former Harvard Corporation member Robert G. Stone Jr. ’45, the board decided that HMC should allocate five percent of its endowment investments to the energy business.

The price of natural gas had fallen sharply in the period before Harvard began investing—down from $2.82 per million BTUs (MMBtus) to $1.45 per million in October 1986—and HMC saw the market as overly depressed and hoped to invest at the bottom of the dip.

HarvardWatch charges that the decision to invest in Harken stemmed from political ties between Stone, who is involved in the energy business, and the Bush family.

Stone, who has been travelling in recent weeks, was not available for comment.

However, Meyer says that HMC directors are never involved in making individual investment decisions.