Amigo comes out, guns blazing_英文原版

 

sol trujillo's right-hand man has accused the federal government of running a "vile and vicious" personal campaign against the telstra ceo.

american phil burgess, one of the so-called "three amigos" hand picked by mr trujillo to run telstra, vowed that no matter what the government threw at him, mr trujillo would never quit.

"the government will either have to give him (mr trujillo) tuberculosis or cancel his visa before he'd quit," mr burgess told the sunday telegraph.

quoting mr trujillo's heritage as a mexican-american who had risen to the top of the corporate pile in the us, mr burgess said: "you're dealing with a street fighter.

"he's not going anywhere. he's going to be here as long as it takes.

"the more they attack him, the more he'll dig in.

"i think the campaign that's being run against him is unbecoming and regrettable. the government should not treat its citizens or its companies like this."

mr burgess's outburst followed suggestions being circulated in canberra that mr trujillo had been sacked from his last position as chief executive with the orange mobile phone company in france. mr burgess described these claims as "total rubbish".

relations between telstra and the government hit a new low point last week after mr trujillo and telstra chairman donald mcgauchie tried to block a new government appointment to the board: former prime ministerial adviser geoffrey cousins.

the move to block mr cousins came as controversy erupted over mr trujillo's $2.58 million bonus - part of a total salary package worth $8.7 million.

the government is outraged at the bonus, which was paid despite more than $18 billion being wiped off the telstra share price since mr trujillo took over.

both prime minister john howard and treasurer peter costello criticised mr trujillo's package last week and urged shareholders to question it at the company's annual general meeting this month.

the confrontation is threatening the upcoming sale of telstra shares. but mr burgess shows no sign of backing off.

"we're going to do what we've come here to do: build broadband across the country," he said.

"in the meantime, what we get from the government is not encouragement but relentless attacks on our company and our people."