Mesa Air Group Inc.,
charged
with corporate espionage in its efforts to start a low-fare Hawaii-based
airline, has a novel explanation for why CFO Peter Murnane deleted files from
his computer a week after the company was sued: Murnane, the company says, was
trying to cover up his interest in pornography.
Mesa stands accused by Hawaiian Airlines Inc. of using confidential
information obtained while considering an investment in Hawaiian Airlines
during its bankruptcy to instead start Go!, now an inter-island rival.
Hawaiian Airlines’ case got a boost after it discovered e-mails that Murnane
had sent looking for advice on how to delete files just days after the suit
was announced, and after the company determined via a computer expert that
Murnane had wiped out data on two laptops and a home PC using special
software.
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Mesa, which last week placed Murnane on 90-day leave, said in a court hearing
Tuesday that other executives knew about Murnane’s special interests.
According to a
report
in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, Mesa VP of legal affairs Chris Pappiaoanou
“under questioning recalled an incident in late 2003 or early 2004 in which he
came in to work on a Saturday morning and observed Murnane looking at adult
content on Murnane’s computer screen.”
Hawaiian attorney Sidney Levinson, according to a Honolulu Advertiser
story,
called the pornography reference "a transparent effort to distract the court's
attention," while outside observers called it “a desperate legal
strategy.”
Desperate, perhaps, but the strategy might also prove to be shrewd. Given the
choice of publicly admitting a role in corporate espionage or going public
with an insatiable desire to look at porn, here’s betting that many would
rather cop to the corporate charge. Seems that could be enough to create
reasonable doubt that perhaps Murnane and Mesa are telling the truth.
Of course, Murnane’s credibility is likely to decrease considerably if he
eventually claims he was only visiting those Web sites to read the articles.
—Lou Whiteman
See
TheDeal.com story on Hawaiian's suit
See
Star Bulletin story
See
Honolulu Advertiser story
