Key EDS witness in BSkyB case discredited for buying internet degree

Tom Young, Computing, Wednesday 27 January 2010 at 15:18:00

Joe Galloway, managing director for CRM Solutions at EDS, lied in court about
origin of degree

EDS's key witness during the firm's �700m court case against BSkyB was shown
to have bought his degree online ? but still managed to get a worse mark than a
dog.

The witness - Joe Galloway, former Managing Director for CRM Solutions at EDS
? was responsible for providing BSkyB with the time period he thought it would
take to install a CRM IT system. The delivery then took much longer than he had
claimed.

The judge's ruling said: "That representation was false?it was made
dishonestly by

Joe Galloway who knew it to be false."

Of the five accusations of misrepresentation brought by BSkyB in the case,
this was the only one that was upheld by the judge and effectively led to EDS
losing the case.

One of the reasons the accusation was upheld was that Joe Galloway made
another representation that was proven false by BSkyB's lawyers ? that he had a
degree from Concordia College in the US Virgin Islands.

Galloway gave detailed evidence on how he took plane journeys between the
islands and attended a college there.

But while questioning Galloway in court, Mark Howard QC managed to obtain
exactly the same degree as Galloway from Concordia College for his dog "Lulu"
with one key difference ? the dog got a higher mark.

Both Galloway and the dog received a letter from the vice-chancellor of
Concordia College saying:

?Mr Galloway / Lulu demonstrated that he/she is prepared and fully equipped
to add valuable apprenticeship to our institution?s activities by means of
talented and profoundly investigated subject treatment."

Galloway's credibility as a witness was shredded, according to one lawyer who
witnessed proceedings.

"He gave his evidence [on going to the college] in the same confident, secure
manner as he gave his evidence about the EDS representations. Make no mistake,
this was a key factor in EDS losing this case," said the lawyer.

Galloway left EDS in December 2000 to form a CRM consultancy, ITIVITI. He was
later employed by EDSC in the US as an IT consultant but was dismissed from that
role during the course of the trial after the true nature of his degree was
revealed.

Both Galloway and Lulu were unavailable for comment at the time of writing.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2256867/key-eds-witness-bskyb-case