Kári Stefánsson, the director of DeCode, called remarks made by the minister of justice regarding Chinese industrial spies “stupid and careless”.
A portion of the Wikileaks infodump reports suspicions that Chinese are using industrial espionage in Iceland, in the medical field in general and at DeCode in particular. The revelation alarmed Kári, who demanded that authorities investigate.
However, Minister of Justice Ögmundur Jónasson made little of the matter, telling reporters that he doubted Chinese industrial spying was a very serious matter that demanded attention.
Kári responded to these remarks at once, telling Fréttablaðið that, “He’s implying that we [at DeCode] and others in our society don’t have anything creative to offer, and that it would be natural for anyone to come here and take what we have, through spying and so forth. This is careless, stupid, and unjust in every way.”
Kári went on to say that he is concerned about Ögmundur, because “it is now possible to press charges against a minister for making a mistake.”
However, Kári admitted that he could not name a single instance in DeCode’s history where spying may have possibly taken place.
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