Westlife manager dismisses chart-rig charge

Westlife manager Mr Louis Walsh said yesterday he "could not care less" about allegations that he rigged the charts by bulk-buying Boyzone singles.

A new biography of Mr Walsh, Baby, You're a Star, by Kathy Foley, recounts an incident when he showed Boyzone members a car-boot full of CDs and said that he and a colleague had bought them.

Mr Walsh said it was important to remember that this was not an authorised biography, but he would not say whether or not the incident happened.

"I don't have to rig the charts any more," he said. "It's called 'promotion' in my book, not rigging. I don't have to buy a Westlife record, or a Ronan Keating, or a Samantha Mumba one. My biggest problem is trying to get air play from Irish radio stations," he said.

Allegations of chart rigging are taken seriously. In Britain, a record company was fined £30,000 six years ago for bulk-buying its own singles.

Asked if he was concerned about this, Mr Walsh said: "I couldn't care less".

Yesterday the British Association of Record Dealers said it would not be pursuing the case.

"It makes a good story, but it's ancient history really," said its director general, Mr Bob Lewis.

"If it were current, and if we had proof that something untoward was happening, we would examine it extremely carefully," he said.

The checks and balances of the system were designed to pick up unusual sales patterns, Mr Lewis said.

The Irish charts are compiled by Chart-track in Britain for the Irish Recorded Music Association. Chart-track's director, Mr John Pender, said the computer quickly picked up unusual patterns and then discounted them from the charts.

It was then up to IRMA to investigate the matter.