NYT: A New Twist on Snooping at Wal-Mart

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/business/21walmart.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

A New Twist on Snooping at Wal-Mart

By MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: April 21, 2007

A former Wal-Mart computer technician, who asserted that company employees eavesdropped on board meetings and conducted clandestine surveillance on shareholders, has reversed himself and denied both claims in sworn testimony, the giant retailer said yesterday.

Bruce D. Gabbard, who was fired in March for taping telephone calls between Wal-Mart employees and a reporter for The New York Times, had told The Wall Street Journal that he was part of an elaborate operation that snooped on employees, stockholders and company critics.

After receiving angry letters from shareholders, who demanded an investigation of the accusation, Wal-Mart’s chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., took the unusual step of publicly denying several of Mr. Gabbard’s most damaging charges in a statement and released portions of his sworn testimony conducted after the Journal articles were published.

“Some of the most disturbing assertions,” made by Mr. Gabbard, the chief executive wrote, “simply are not true.”

In a transcript of Mr. Gabbard’s testimony, conducted by a lawyer for Wal-Mart on April 18, the former technician said several statements were taken out of context or inaccurately attributed to him in the articles, Wal-Mart said.

FULL story at link.

Howzabout dat liddle boy ya got? He woodint look so good widout an ear....wood-ee??

Not that I'm the suspicious type, mind you...