German boss termed EU satellite system ‘nonsense’, suspended
By DPA, IANSTuesday, January 18, 2011
BREMEN - The head of a German space technology company, OHB-Systems, has been suspended after damning remarks of his were published by WikiLeaks, a company spokesman told DPA Tuesday.
Berry Smutny, the chief executive of OHB-Systems, described the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation (satnav) system as a “waste of taxpayer money,” and “nonsense,” according to conversations with US Ambassador Philip Murphy, published through WikiLeaks.
A spokesman for the Bremen-based company, which has received an initial contract for the Galileo system, said they felt compelled to suspend Smutny, “to avert immense damage to our reputation.”
The remarks were part of WikiLeaks documents published in recent weeks by Norwegian daily Aftenposten.
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